Embrace Your Voice by Shala Graham

Today’s COMPEL blog post comes from Encouragement for Today writer and speaker, Shala Graham

Speakers and writers spend a fair amount of time learning from other people who are ahead of us on their journey. We consume their books. We watch their messages on YouTube. We take notes on how they crafted their words. We find ourselves imitating their inflections. We get inspired. We dream. And then it happens: we don’t know our own voice. Worse yet, we no longer think our voice is good enough.

It’s easy to get lost in someone else’s voice.

Lost is where the enemy likes you. When you’re focused on being like someone else, reaching the same audience, with the same message, you no longer pose a threat. What’s the threat? Reaching other people with the unique message that God deposited into your heart for His people. Your message is not for everyone. It is for the people whom God has commissioned you to reach.

I’m reminded of the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel 3:1 says, “The voice said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.’” Though the Lord gave him a stern message that was not going to be received by everyone who heard it, it was the message that God put in his belly that had to go out.

What message has the Lord put in your belly? Trust that God put it there because He intends for your unique voice to deliver it. So embrace your voice. If He wanted someone else to speak it with their special wordsmithing and witty inflections, He would have put it in their belly.

As I began speaking, I came face to face with this challenge. I found myself preparing my message and feeling insecure that I’m not great at illustrations like this person. I don’t cry and hop around the stage like another person. Satan was whispering to me that if I were to be a good speaker that the people could receive, I had to be like the other speakers I knew they liked. But as I prayed through my feelings, I decided to kick those thoughts to the curb. The people don’t need a replica of someone they already have. Their souls required what God put in me to speak and deliver how God designed me to do it. Now, whether I am speaking or writing, I am confident in the voice God gave me. I stay in my lane, and I lean into my strengths.

Father, thank you for making each of us with a unique, Holy Spirit-filled voice. Please help us to lean into what you have put in our belly. Encourage us to embrace the voice and personality that you meticulously crafted in us. Let us walk in our unique anointing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

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Comments

  1. Wow, just wow! This spoke to be in a very loud voice. Thank you!.

  2. Constance Maxwell: November 30, 2020 at 4:39 pm

    Thank you for this confirming word – very timely for me!

  3. Thank you ~ I struggle with the feeling that my life isn’t perfect, how can God use me when I don’t have it ‘all together’? But, I want to be “a good steward of my story” and if my story will help another, then it’s my responsibility to share what God has done in my life, despite my insecurities and fears.

  4. Kayla Santangelo: November 4, 2020 at 5:24 pm

    Beautifully said. As someone new to writing, I feel like this is what I am currently trying to figure out.

    • Amen. I would encourage you to sit and pray about the things you are passionate about…what God has called you to write about. And just write without reading a ton of other people’s work for a while so that you can begin to see your own style come forth.

  5. Hayley Williams: November 4, 2020 at 9:40 am

    Thank you for this!

  6. Wonderful!

  7. This is a timely and important word; as writers, we all have a unique message. I believe that as we spend quality time in the presence of God He will inspire our thoughts and we will find our voice. This is my ongoing prayer to: “Find My Voice”.

    Thank you for the encouragement.