I’m not often speechless… or wordless. Words are so natural for my person; most everything I’m good at has something to do with words. Being speechless is not something I like. Having the right words to say at the right time is something I find confidence in, something that I can lean back onto when most other people don’t know what to say. Very few things have left me speechless. I was left without words again this week; at a time when I counted on them to get me through a conversation.
I was shocked into reality by a truth this week. My imaginative, optimistic self doesn’t like to come into agreement with reality sometimes. It would much rather stay where it’s comfortable off in la-la land somewhere prancing happily around like nothing is ever wrong. But sometimes there’s no other way to come to agreement with reality without facing it head-on. This time, I didn’t have a choice whether to face it or not, I was forced to. God wanted me to see that some of the most perfect-seeming people are struggling, broken people just like I am; and I was shocked. Not that I think less of them because of it, not even that I don’t want to talk to them for a few days because of it. I was just shocked, speechless, wordless, while I processed that fact that my mental images had been shattered into a million pieces. That a person I thought I knew, I really didn’t know at all.
Not that it hurt me to sweep up the glass image; I needed the blunt truth shoved into my face in order to realize that God is doing something great with my life. Something so much bigger than myself and “Mackenzie’s World”. That I need to step out of myself sometimes and realize that people are hurting around me and I’m doing nothing more than staring blankly at their lives. Loving people for who they are, in spite of what they’ve done isn’t easy. I can only imagine how hard it is for God to look at my life and still love me in spite of some of some of the things I’ve done. I’ve broken his heart a thousand times, and he’s never left me. The thought of someone willingly dying for me is beyond crazy. Who would want to? It’s sad to think someone could love me that deeply and I brush him off as if finding that sort of love happens every day.
What am I supposed to say to a person who has gone through something I can hardly comprehend? I have to say something! But like before, I’m speechless. I’m wordless. No encouraging words will come. They all sound fake, like a person saying, “Don’t cry it’s going to be okay” when they’ve just lost their legs. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say? “Everything is going to be all right”? It sounds fake. They’ve heard it a million times but hardly anyone knows what it’s like to be in their place. You’ve just spoken a bunch of empty words. People talking because they don’t know what to say when faced with that sort of thing. People talking because they don’t want to be left…speechless. It’s as if a giant elephant sat down in your lap and you have no idea what to do with it now that it’s there. It ruins a conversation.
This week, I need prayer. I need the right words to say when I’m speechless. I need to be encouraging when all I can think to do is slump in a chair and process the words. I need God to show me just how to trust him for words and not my brain. I’ll finish with a letter from Paul to Corinth.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11 (MSG)
We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.
Not So Supergirl 
Before my mom would let me blog, she had me read all of your blogging andd writing tips. It really did help to understand what people want to read about and what people want to see in other’s writing. It did say on your old blog that you had been blogging since 2005 but I had no idea if you had another even before that. I would love to Skype you and talk about my writing, I’ll ask my mom about when we can get that done. Thanks for being supportive of my blog, have a great weekend too 🙂
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Hey Notsosupergirl,
Yes, I’ve been blogging since 2005 – long time:) I just can’t not write. I am sure you know how that feels. Some people are just writers – it is something of how God has made them, how they process the world, how they interact with Jesus. I can tell this is something of how He has wired you. I love keeping up with your writing and am honored you do the same with mine. You can talk with your mom sometime, maybe if you want, we could skype and talk about your writing a bit. You have a gift. A while back on my present blog I wrote a series about writing. If you want to read about it, I think I’ve linked it here. http://deannadavis.wordpress.com/?s=blogging+and+writing. Or you can go to my blog and in the search box, search blogging and writing. Hope you have a great weekend and keep writing!!!
Deanna
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What a beautiful post NotSoSuperGirl! You have spoken of the reality so many of us face from time to time and sometimes one of our biggest fears which is not having the words to say when we need them the most. I used to be a very shy person of few words, as your parents can tell you. Now I speak way too much and sometimes the words come out before I stop and think about what I am about to say and how it will affect the hearer. When we are left disappointed, shocked and speechless, perhaps those are the times when our Lord wants us to just “be still and know that He is God.” 15 years ago, I suffered a great loss. Many people came to me and offered soothing words and some came offering the “it will be ok” words because they had no idea what to say to comfort me and that is all they wanted to do . . . to comfort me. In many cases, what a person needs most is not words at all, but just our prayers, perhaps a sympathetic cry and/or a shoulder to lean on. Like you, I am learning to take my speechless moments and substitute my words with prayers, hugs and sypathetic tears.
Thank you for sharing this personal story.
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Thanks for writing that, it’s really what I needed to hear. My sunday school teacher always told us to make sure “we prayed about it as much as we talked about it”; I don’t know that I’ve been doing that. This was pretty personal and I had another blog post I had planned to put out. But I felt that God wanted someone to hear this. I hope that I can began to give people what they need even more than soothing words, thanks again for encouraging me when I didn’t know what to say 🙂
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