At the youth group my team and I are working with this month, I was given the opportunity to speak to them.
Public speaking terrifies me. Like really truly terrifying. I get really hot; I turn bright red; I stumble over my words. It’s just embarrassing and awkward.
During the week before, I asked God what He wanted me to say: to reveal to me what these kids really needed to hear. I decided I wanted to talk to them about something I am growing in right now too, so I chose to base my words around Jeremiah 29:11-13 (one of my all-time favorite verses), and focus on God’s purpose for your life.
So that was great. But what now? I had no idea how to put my thoughts and feelings into something that would portray the power of God to the kids who were listening to me ramble on stage with a microphone. So I prayed. And God led me here…
“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much TREMBLING.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-3
WOW! That just blew my mind that Paul, who is such a respected man of so much wisdom and power, felt the same way that I was feeling.
So I showed up for youth group with an elevated heart beat and shaking hands. I went up to the microphone and almost knocked over my notes from the music stand. I took a deep breath and trusting God to use me to glorify Him, I started talking. Before I knew it, I was saying thank you and walking to sit down. It was over.
Afterwards my teammate told me something that I know she had no clue how much it impacted me. She said it was funny how my voice got shakier and shakier as I talked more and more because normally it is the opposite when people speak. In that moment all I could think was the verse in 1 Corinthians. That even though I actually came to them with more and more trembling, God used me to touch lives for Him.
We had such a huge response of high school students come up to the front afterwards to receive prayer and counseling for issues on their heart. It was all I could do to simply sit there and praise God, in awe of how powerful He is.
Talking in front of people still makes me want to run away as fast as possible, but now I know that it’s worth it. God’s going to use me- trembling and all.
