I’m so excited by this weekly guest post slot here on my blog. I have met an incredibly diverse group of people through the internet – people who are all very different but are all part of this incredible family which has God as it’s head and father.
This weeks post is by Pastor Jason Stasyszen (Blog | Twitter) of BreakThrough Church in Alaska. Jason is an incredible guy who writes a blog which never ceases to teach, exhort and encourage me and it is our privilege that Jason has written a guest post for this blog today. So, over to Jason:
Finding Your Voice
As a person who sings (love to sing) and preaches (love to preach), it is hard for me to imagine not having a voice. Recently due to illness, I’ve had a sore throat and coughing that have left me with very little to work with, but still I knew my voice was coming back.
I read an article about Joey Finley, an eight year old (the age of my son), who had a virus called HPV that made him incapable of speaking and literally threatened his life. If you’ve seen those commercials about HPV, it’s the same virus that causes cervical cancer in women. For Joey, little wart-like growths formed in the throat and if untreated, would eventually cut off all air flow and he would die. Little Joey went through many surgeries (16 from the age of 4), and his doctor put it this way, “Try to imagine breathing through a coffee stirrer. That’s what those children breathe like when they first come to our attention.” (Read the whole article here)
Even after the growths were removed, he sounded hoarse and told his doctors he had “frogs” in his throat. The most fascinating thing to me is what happened next. He was assigned to a speech language pathologist to help him with his voice. At that time, he was understandably shy and hesitant to interact with kids because they had teased him before. Instead of dealing with this, he retreated.
What they found was that Joey was using other muscles in his throat in order to make his voice, but they taught him to imitate funny sounds, like motorboat and car noises, which enabled him to get his real voice back. It didn’t take long for him to start making normal sounds. “I heard a sweet little high-pitched voice, not that 80-year-old man voice in a 5-year-old body,” the pathologist said.
I was challenged again as I read this and thinking about how many people have been through trauma, hardship, and heartache and then fall into a “false voice” and slip into isolation because they don’t know how people will react or what will happen. They put up defenses and call it quits, but somewhere inside us is the true voice.
Here’s what struck me as I read this story:
- We sometimes develop other “muscles” instead of using our true voice and think it’s the only way because no one ever showed us differently. We each have destiny and purpose, things we were created to do as we respond to the love God has shown us. Our communication suffers when it consists mostly of regurgitated facts or religious clichés.
- Sometimes the false voice came from other people or our own ungodly expectations. We can try to be something we’re not because other people told us we were or weren’t something. The fact of the matter is, what did God say? We can have ungodly expectations for ourselves that keep the real voice from coming out. Whatever the source, we need to ask God to show us, acknowledge and realize where it came from, repent (if necessary), and walk with Him into a new place and position.
- We need that safe place to express ourselves, have fun, and grow in our true voice. We need to know that the other, false way of living is not the only way. The pressure of that which is choking the life out of us is one problem to overcome, and thankfully, Jesus has already overcome—sin, death, hell, and the grave. The next exploration is finding out who He made us to be and expressing that.
- This involves you, Jesus, and other people. The pathologist called Joey’s case a miracle, and I agree completely. Some miracles come all at once in a flash, and others take a lot work, effort, and the ability to trust other people.
I just want to encourage you that the false voice is not “just the way it is” or what you have to resign yourself to for the rest of your life. There is a true voice that God put inside you and me, and we were meant to express and use it for His glory. All the things Joey didn’t want to do before like singing and playing with friends, he now enjoys and doesn’t take his miracle for granted.
I feel like I have been through things that would try to produce a false voice, and seeing the other side and freedom—I can honestly say that being the real me is a whole lot better. I don’t have to be anyone else and if someone suggests I should, I just politely refuse. It’s taken a lot of work to get me to this point, and I don’t want to go back now!
What do you say? Do you feel you have been using a false voice and bowing to expectations other than God’s? Are you ready to embrace the miracle (hard work and all)?
Great post! I love your insight into the article about little Joey.
That was seriously good stuff. It fits so well with some other blogs that I've read today. It's so true that we build walls for ourselves to shield us from the plight and pain of the world, when all God wants is for us to be open and real.
He never said it'd be easy, just that that's what He wanted.
Great post, Jason, and good catch, Peter!
I heard a pastor preach once on how we often limp through life, wounded and compensating for those wounds by acting in ways we never would if we weren't wounded. But then, when it comes time to be healed, we're so used to limping that we think that the limp is our normal stride.
I think these two go hand in hand– the false voice and the limp. And I'll be honest enough to say that there are times in my life that I've knowingly limped to avoid hurt. And there are times in my life that I've UNknowingly limped because I didn't know that I could walk normally. My new goal is to be so in-step with Christ that I automatically walk normally and use the voice He's given me.
I really feel like God is trying to say something to me. Between this, Jon's post this morning, the subject of the class I taught last night (our identity in Christ) and several other things God keeps confirming the same message to me. I'm mostly concerned because I know I can use this in some ways, but usually when God really lays it on like this there is something much bigger I'm missing.
The good news is that all of these are encouraging and not condemning so whenever I figure out what God is trying to point out with such repetition I can find it uplifting and maybe get over something I'm personally struggling with (see my blog post today)
This post is awesome, Jason. I've never thought of things quite this way before. I think this post goes really well with all of the Trust topics people have written on this week. It is so important that we figure out who God has made us to be, and try our best to be that person, and not what the world would have us be. Thanks!
Chrystie, bman, Sarah, NtG, Ginny- Thank you.
And I agree, God’s trying to telling us something. 🙂 Nick, a lot of my preaching/teaching deals with our identity. Sarah, that illustration is a great one. Good stuff, guys. Thanks again.
This is a great post! I love the reminder to be ourselves in order for our real voice to shine through.
What an amazing story, thanks for sharing about Joey.
These are great thoughts, Jason. I really like this:
"They put up defenses and call it quits, but somewhere inside us is the true voice."
We all need to reach deep inside of ourselves and find it!
Jason, this spoke to me. I need the encouragement to find my true voice. This post had so many different and thought-provoking points. I'm gonna bookmark and come enjoy it some more.
I definitely need Jesus.. and also others.
Thank you for story of Joey.
Great post! Thanks Peter for posting!
There is some talk here of limps as false limps. I limp because I got hit by a truck. And I'm happy to limp – there was a time I couldn't feel my legs. So be careful not to assume that all appearances are for dramatic effect.
That said, I like what Jason said.
All too often we try to be not ourselves, but constructs of ourselves. We look around society today and decide "am I one of them, or one of them or maybe, no, not one of them."
We see groups and social ideals and build images in our minds; then we try to become those images. This is, of course, dangerous, as we ultimately become a lie. And if we are lies, how can we carry the Truth to the world?
God gave each of us certain gifts along with a certain amount of grace – and he selected these specifically for us.
We are part of the body of Christ. We can't say "well, gee, I'm a liver cell but I'd really rather be in the iris, that would be cool." Of course, acting like an iris cell would mean neglecting our work as a liver cell. Carried too far, we could become cancerous to the body.
Good post, Jason. You made me think.
And may God grant Joey many years!
I love how you used Joey's story and made it such a God thing. Because that's exactly what it is. Thanks, Jason!
First of all, God bless Joey!
Next, God bless you for sharing his story, and relating it to our own stories! (Sorry for blessing you second, but I have a soft spot in my heart for children…)
This really makes me ask myself if I am using my own voice or not. Most of the time, I do think I am, but I noticed that sometimes the sound of it surprises me because I am not used to hearing it…
Wow- you guys are awesome. Thanks for the encouragement. Excellent thoughts from everyone too!
What an amazing story…for Joey and your thoughts on it! I read where he had learned to use other muscles to cope and thought of it in a different light: that now he has stretched himself in new ways, learned that he can find ways outside the box to cope with what life throws at him. Thank goodness a pathologist was able to show him that he could move beyond that place so it wasn't holding him back.
Great post, Jason! Thanks.
Great guest post, Jason. It’s hard to let go of old habits, especially the ones we don’t even know why we do them! Like you say, we’ve just never been taught differently.
encouraging post and good questions.