I was reviewing the long, tedious process of editing my book, Kingdom Journeys. I’m finally satisfied with it. But a couple of times during the four year writing and editing process, I lost my voice. The manuscript no longer sounded like me.
I had to fight to recover it.
A lot of us are like that with our lives. We get around someone who has a lot of authority and we let them tell us how to write the story of our lives. In a way, we give them permission to edit our lives.
And some people can lose their voice, just as I lost mine. They begin to walk and talk like someone other than themselves. This is especially sad to watch in young people, who may have never found their voice in the first place.
For example, it happens when, having never had the chance to find his voice, a young man joins a gang. The gang leaders tell him how to think and act. The young man gets tattoos – tattoos that were someone else’s idea of what he should look like. And the tattoos symbolize the way others have written all over him. He no longer looks like himself.
It can happen more subtly to all of us. When we allow those with a strong personality to substitute their voice for ours, we lose ourselves.
Losing and finding your voice is the stuff of fairy tales. Think about Cinderella, a princess dressed up as a servant girl, or the Little Mermaid, who literally has her voice stolen.
People the world over are trying to steal our voice and write our story for us. But only we can write the story of our lives. We need to fight to find our voice and use it to tell our own story.
Some of us are stuck in relationships that feel suffocating. We can whither inside if we live like that. It’s no way to live.
You may not have heard the sound of your own voice for too long. But the world needs to hear it. Don’t let someone use you as a ventriloquist’s dummy. There will never be another you. You’re at your best when the voice we hear is authentically your own.
Amen. He created each one of us unique. For you and for me, for each one of us, the only voice that should supercede our own is the voice of the Lord as He chooses to speak through us.
Excellent blog Seth,
This is a topic not enough people talk a about.
Hope you write more about it in the future.
Welcome Home … Voice !!
Great wisdom, dad!
This seems to be the case with believer and the institutionalized chucrh. Rather than the beliver voicing their faith in Christ as He directs the overwhelming power of the IC speaks for the individual believer; the Ic says who the individual is, what they think, and how they should act as a member of the IC not as a member of the Body of Christ. This is why many people call Christians hypocrites and why Ghandi said, “I like your Christ,but I do not like your Christians”. Belivers need to take back their God-given voice from the man-made church institution.
Love this.
Seth, thanks for using your voice to build us up and not tear us down. For pointing us to Him and for making us feel good about ourselves. Keep talking…we’re listening!
Glad it all worked out, Seth.
Good editors want to amplify the voice of authors and put it into readable form. Editors should also, imho, help “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.”
How many leaders have fallen because their counselors didn’t speak the truth to them? “Loyalty and truth preserve the king,” not merely loyalty.
Requires much trust and cooperation to maintain the balance. “In abundance of counselors there is victory.”
“Without consultation plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.”
Always a pleasure and an honor to work with you and your able team.
Love you.
Blessings,
Robt
Thanks for your help and for your passion, Robert. I love the way you’re so comfortable with your voice. It is distinctive! You’ve been a big blessing and a good friend to me on so many occasions and I thank God for you.
Dad, when God counts His blessings in this generation, may He not only count this book may He also claim full authorship. This is my prayer. I love you.
That’s a good prayer, Uche. Ultimately we just want his voice to be heard!
Uche nailed it. Well done!
So many people labored over the book with love and fervor. Almost four years later, God took it from the ashes (imho) and formed a message for His people. Fascinating process.
Once again, God is using Seth to teach and inspire believers.
What is that verse in I Corinthians 3? One plants a seed, another waters it, but only God causes it to grow.
Read the Journey book. Plant the seeds of submission to God in your life. Seth will water those seeds. God, I believe, will bring about spiritual growth in your life … if you’re willing.
It’s all about hearing God’s voice. That’s the point of Seth’s entire ministry, as it should be with each of us too.
This is very timely Seth. Sometimes to regain our voice we need to retreat from the noise which may be drowning out authentic expressions of our story. That isn’t easy but often is essential. Love to the Barnes…
Thank you for describing your personal journey as you wrote “Kingdom Journeys”. Your openness allows for a much greater impact of the message.
Thanks for this, Seth.