I Never Found My Voice. It Found Me.

I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:1-3)

My created purpose is to glorify my God. And just as he did with David, in redeeming my soul my Savior enlivened me to that purpose by putting a new song of praise in my heart. And because my mouth speaks what flows from my heart, it's a song that's given me a voice. A beautiful song of love's mercy that's far too melodic to be silenced by any circumstance, or any sin, or any suffering. A song of grace not given for the purpose of singing out my story, but a song for ringing out my Savior's. A song perfectly composed for every sovereign second of every sovereign season, regardless of its sorrowing and suffering.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

It's not surprising that we're being met with endless cultural conversation about finding our voice.  Every message that swirls in this world can be traced back to our created purpose, and this one is no exemption. We were designed to be heard and to speak words that come with eternal meaning. But because the world is at enmity with the Creator, it's a message that will never be able to take solid root in earthly ground.

We were created with a desiring to speak with lasting influence, but we're not capable of finding our voice with any sustainable satisfaction. For even when we think we've found it, we will inevitably discover in time that it's still seems so painfully lost. Because the only voice that can bring sustained satisfaction is one that can never be silenced, and that eternal voice can only be found by the one who finds us

As a redeemed woman of God, I have a voice that cannot be silenced. I don't have to shout with increasing volume out of fear I won't be heard, and I don't have to recoil in reserved retreat out of fear I will. I don't have to find my voice, because it found me. It was gifted to me by my Father, my merciful Savior who put a song in my heart that will never be silenced. A song of praise that will ring out for eternity. 

The question is not, “Do you have a voice?” The question is, “Do you have a song?” If you’re redeemed by Christ’s cross then you do have a song. It’s a song of the redeemed, of those who have been rescued from the righteous wrath of God through the cross of Jesus Christ and are now called his friends.  (Bob Kauflin; Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing

As a Christ-follower, I have the joy of living out my created purpose regardless of where the circumstances of life land me. This purpose, to glorify my God, has nothing to do with holding a clearly defined position, or carrying out a carefully delineated plan, or charting out creatively detailed productivity. Rather it's a purpose that has everything to do with using my breath for the glory of my King. It's a crystal clear purpose. A rock solid purpose that allows me to take flight without circling in any fruitless holding pattern, waiting impatiently for the future to accomodate my mission better than the sovereign seconds of the present. 

When I appropriate the grace to stand squarely on the truth that God has put a song in my heart, my created purpose is too enlivened to foolishly assign false weight to the circumstances of life that hold zero power to silence my voice. Zero power even if I find myself physically locked down or locked up, or socially shut in or shut out. A song in my heart leaving me too enlivened to be pushed under by any false weight that has no bearing on my worth as a woman of purpose. Too enlivened not to beg for grace to remain mindful that every breath God granted me represents another "sovereign second" to bring him glory with my song of praise.

I don't know how you're doing these days. They are so very difficult for many, and you're not alone if you're struggling. But if you are a Christian, please know that the last thing you are in is a holding pattern waiting for more meaningful life to begin. THIS is your real life of eternal significance. THESE are the sovereign seconds of your divine purpose.

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life– the life God is sending one day by day.  C.S. Lewis

If your days are pained by a depressing sense of isolation or punctuated by a deep suffering, lean hard into the one who has given you a voice of eternal worth. And to the glory of our great God, may you be enlivened by grace to sing his song of salvation in the shadowlands.