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10-16-09 (The Words of My Mouth)
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Stephanie McIver
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Oct 16, 2009 09:35 PDT
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Steph's Stuff
10-16-09
(The Words of My Mouth)
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in
your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”- Psalm 19:14 (NIV)
I speak in front of groups. I've been doing it for some time
now--probably fifteen years or more. I discovered an affinity for this
when I worked a Christmas job and was promoted to trainer the second
year. They liked my personality and thought I would be an effective
teacher of sales and computer skills for a phone room. I loved it! The
trainer training was very affirming and I met a lot of like minded
people. We had a lot of fun trying out the techniques on one another
and I marched fearlessly into the first week of working with real, live
people. I froze a bit when I saw fifty faces staring at me, expecting
ME to be an authority at something some of them had been doing for
several years. I swallowed hard and marched forth into the fray.
(Never let them see you sweat. Imagine them in their underwear.
Pretend you're talking to your grandma...all those thoughts went through
my mind). I consulted my notes and began the class. I told a silly
joke and THEY ALL LAUGHED!! I was hooked. I'm a natural born drama
queen, flirt and ham. What better place to use those qualities?
It was a few more years before I began using this gift to speak to
Christians. I had begun writing and was asked to talk at a retreat at
my church. Not just a few minutes--a whole weekend. It was a stretch,
but after several weeks of prayer and hard work, I taught the ladies
about thte Fruit of the Spirit and in the intervening years, those
verses in Galatians have served me well, not just in my speaking venues,
but as the life verses I go to when I am uncertain of how to perceive
certain situations. If it ain't a fruit, I need to toss it out...
A lot of people are amazed that I find public speaking so enjoyable--but
I do. There is something to be said about those instructions to just
BEHAVE as though you know what you're talking about. If you get up in
front of a group, unless they're out to lynch you, they usually are
pretty receptive, especially if you speak from your heart and your own
experience. I AM an expert when I talk about how God has worked in MY
life. There is no pretense there. I am an eyewitness to His love and
grace. And I am honest when I tell people that there is NO WAY that I
deserve this love and grace.
That is the message He has given me to tell others. It is my mission in
life to reveal how He can use anyone. You are not here by accident. He
has a plan for your life--and it might not be public speaking or
writing. It might not be going around the world preaching the gospel.
But He has placed a passion in your heart that is uniquely suited to
your own personality and your very soul. And if you earnestly seek Him
and ask Him to reveal that passion to you, He will.
With the desire to speak comes the responsibility to do it well. It is
a responsibility I do not take lightly and I always pray that when I do
get up in front of a group, or even in one on one situations, that my
words will be pleasing—a reflection of the meditations of my heart. He
has been very faithful in supplying me with those words—enough that I
can not only write every day, but with enough of His motivation to speak
on the radio five days a week.
I don’t do it alone. I can’t take credit for it. It is completely,
totally—and in my mind, irrationally, the gift of a Lord who will take
this broken clay pot and use it for His glory. My Rock and my Redeemer
speaks to ME every time I call on His name—and He wants to speak to you
too. He does speak to you. Are you listening? His voice isn’t
overpowering or obnoxious. It is small and deep inside a place that
longs to be your place of refuge.
We enter into another day that is full of possibilities. Open your eyes
and ears to them. Ask Him to let the words of YOUR mouth and the
meditations of your heart be pleasing in His sight. Ask Him to show you
where your gifts can be used for His glory. Ask Him to reassure you
that His plan is in place and He is fully confident that you CAN, in His
power, complete the mission He has put you here for.
Sometimes my words aren’t all that pleasing or inspired. But a lot of
them are—especially when I say, ‘Use me Lord. Take my humble offering
of obedience and spread it as far as You can. I am grateful for the
honor and privilege of telling others who hurt as I hurt and fear as I
fear, that You are bigger than any obstacle in my path. And may I
please You today in the opportunities You will lay before me. Thank YOU
in Jesus’ name.
Truer words were never spoken.
Fondly,
Stephanie
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