I spent many years of my life in silence. I don’t mean physical but rather spiritual silence, and my spirit longed to be heard. See, you can talk all day long, but if you aren’t speaking the way God designed you to speak, to those who are capable of hearing, you might as well be in a sound proof room. In order to be heard, to be known, you must first find your voice. Once you find it, you must learn to honor it, then learn how to use it effectively; that is, use it to bring glory to God.

Your God-given voice shows up in two main places—your gifting and your being. It is in your talents, your spirituals gifts, your strengths, preferences, and passions; it’s in the example you lead as a believer, how you choose to live your life, and your personal and unique choices.

Public speaking—it has never been my thing. Likewise, It’s never really been my preference to spend time with large groups of people. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the occasional party every now and then, but most of the time, it’s difficult for me to connect that way. It’s much more natural for me to communicate one on one or with a couple of close friends and/or family. If I were to constantly engage in events and situations with larger numbers of people, I would be drained because that’s not how God designed me.

How did God design you? Maybe He made you the life of the party, an extrovert, a public speaker. Maybe He made you equipped more for one on one connections. Maybe God gave you a powerful singing voice. God didn’t place my gift within my physical voice. He placed it in my creativity and my ability to write. My voice is in this blog, in my writing, and it’s heard by those who choose to read what I put out and those closest to me.

Once you find your voice, you must learn to honor it. One way we are able to honor our voices is, ironically, learning when to stay silent. We stifle our voices when we waste our time trying to speak to people who simply don’t have the ears to hear us. It took me a while to get this. We must discern when to speak up and when to stay silent. Sometimes silence speaks volumes; sometimes you are able to say way more by being silent than you ever could by responding. Sometimes silence is a response.

Don’t toss your pearls to swine or they will trample you under their feet and turn to tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6) Do not waste good things on people who will not appreciate them.

The only way your voice will ever be heard by some people is by the example you lead. Many people will choose not to listen to you, and that’s their right. Further, many people will never understand you even if they tried. As believers, we are able to spread the Gospel simply just by being, by showing people the love of Christ. We are able to speak volumes through our actions, a lot of times, even more so than by our words. The truth is, not everyone will be immediately impacted by your example, but inevitably there will be someone somewhere who will record you in their memory and recall the experiences they had with you at a later time when they are ready for God to work in them. This is called “planting seeds”. We plant seeds that God will water, and those seeds will one day turn into something fruitful.

Did you have a teddy bear or a special blanket as a child? Or maybe a certain stuffed animal or favorite toy? These objects provide many children with feelings of comfort and security. It’s something that belongs to them and them only—something tangible and real that feels like “home”. The truth is, we cling to objects when we are children because we are unable to comprehend who we are yet, who God is. All we have is the love and security we get from our parents who are very much our world at that point. For a lot of children, they don’t even have that. Our parents are human, and humans are imperfect. Thus, it’s very common for children to cling to the closest thing to them which is often times a toy of some kind.

Your voice is a lot like those things; it’s uniquely yours and much like a best friend—honoring you, standing beside you, and speaking up for you. We all need to learn how to adopt what I like to call “the best friend voice”. Speak to yourself the way you would your very dearest friend.

A friend of mine was struggling the other day, and she reached out to me. I told her she is loved and she’s never alone. I told her she has people that love her—friends, family, God, and I told her I loved her as well. This is exactly how I speak to myself when I’m struggling. God gave us a voice not just to comfort others but ourselves as well.

Your voice is unique and recognizable in God’s Kingdom. It is assigned to you in order for you to care for yourself, to minister to others, and to have a healthy and unique relationship with your Heavenly Father.