“I don’t know who needs to hear this but…”
Have you ever heard a pastor or Christian speaker say this, and then follow it up with a word or Bible verse or song lyric? Something that they felt put on their heart and compelled to share with the group, room, handful of people, etc.
The phrase always gives me goosebumps. It makes my fingers wiggle at my sides in anticipation—both to see how the words might impact those around me, and to see if the word is meant for me.
Either way, I always marvel at the answer to the call, the courage to speak up; always feel inspired by the hands raised in the middle of someone else speaking, and the shaking heads warning the complete change of subject because they just have to say whatever it is.
It reminds me of the feeling of walking beside a lake and finding the absolute perfect skipping rock.
Even if you’re in a hurry, even if you have 48 other things in your hands and strapped to your chest, even if it’s getting dark and the mosquitos are starting to pour on thick, sometimes you just HAVE to pick up that rock and throw it. To watch it skip across the glass like water and leave ripples traveling outward. To count 1, 2, 3, 4… as it jumps, hoping for a high number, knowing you only get one chance at that skip—at least with that rock.
And I think that’s what those calls are. The chance to create those ripples, the chance, in that one moment, with that one word, verse, song, etc., to be the person that throws the rock and cuts through the surface. To be the person that, without even realizing it, answers the prayer of someone else, the person that says the words they asked God to hear, or gives them the answer they’ve prayed to find.
Not because you are a pastor or a prophet or because you have no fear or any idea who that word is for or why, but because you happened to be walking next to a proverbial lake and your eyes caught on the perfect rock and God said, throw it.
“Where did this come from?” we might think to ourselves as the word itches beneath our skin.
“Are they going to think I’m crazy if I say this?”
“Is it too vulnerable to say this?”
“Do I even have time to throw this rock? What if I drop everything I’m holding? What if it just plunks in the water and it’s embarrassing?”
“Maybe I should just wait for someone else to say it.”
“Maybe I should let someone else find it and throw it.”
Maybe.
Or maybe coming from you at that time, in that moment, in your words, in your way, is exactly how it needs to be said. And maybe you’ll change the course of someone’s day, week, life.
Maybe, even if you walk away embarrassed, cringing, wishing you kept your mouth shut, someone else will walk away with wide eyes thinking, oh my gosh, God is real. He heard my prayers. I am not alone. I will get through this.
So, throw the rock.
Let those itching fingers reach down and pick it up, let that word on the tip of your tongue spill out. Create those ripples and let God do the rest.
I love this message!
XO