Skip to main content

Speech Fast

August 14





Speech Fast


Saturday I did something that many people feel is impossible for me—I didn’t talk. Why?

With the slip of a surgeon’s scalpel, several years ago, I lost the ability to speak—a fairly important skill to a preacher. My world crashed in around me.

As weeks became months, I drifted into depression and was losing hope. It wasn’t the cancer that scared me, my prognosis was good-it was the thought that without a voice, I was useless to God, my church and my family that paralyzed me. It was beginning to look like I’d never preach again.

Then on January 29th, after a year of silence and partial silence, God restored my voice and extended my ministry. And I am grateful. So every year, on the anniversary of that date, I honor the Lord with a speech fast to help me remember.

I remember that when I preach, it is God’s words, not my words that I speak. I remember that without His power, I could never speak them-literally.

I remember that God’s people are good. His church did not turn their back on me, but supported me through my trial. I remember the friend that rubbed baby oil on my son when his worry made him break out in hives on the night of my surgery. I remember the Sunday School class that passed the hat to pay for my airplane ticket to receive the surgery that healed me. I remember the denominational executive that told me he’d see that my pulpit was filled for up to six months while I recuperated.

I remember that God cares. I remember that even in my darkest moment, God was there. I will never forget the touch of His unseen hand on my soul.

A speech fast wasn’t that hard. With so much to remember and be grateful for, I didn’t have time to talk anyway.


Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Furnishings of the Tabernacle

Furnishings of the Tabernacle . ‎The book of Exodus details the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings. As Yahweh’s sanctuary, the tabernacle served as God’s dwelling place among the Israelites—the expression of the covenant between Yahweh and His people ( Exod 25:8–9 ).

The Ten Plagues of Egypt

The Ten Plagues of Egypt

A Threshing Floor

A Threshing Floor In the ancient world, farmers used threshing floors to separate grain from its inedible husk (chaff) by beating it with a flail or walking animals on it—sometimes while towing a threshing sledge. Sledges were fitted with flint teeth to dehusk the grain more quickly. Other workers would turn the grain over so that it would be evenly threshed by the sledge.