𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬

Last night I began re-reading my favorite book ("Christy" by Catherine Marshall). In the prologue, Mrs. Marshall writes,

"𝘈𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩, 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵: 𝘈𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳; 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳."

I thought of a conversation I had with a friend earlier. He said sometimes he gets so tongue-tied while praying that he just gives up and says, "God, you know what I mean, what I'm trying to say," to which I laughingly added, "Holy Spirit, God, y'all got this conversation, right? I'm out!"

In a few hours, I'm talking to my Sunday School class about the Holy Spirit. One of the opening activities is going to be comparing two-way communication with one-way communication and proposing to a group of 8 and 9-year-olds that prayer is two-way communication. I wonder how that will go. Of course, later we'll have a best groaner contest. Because that's what 4th graders do...

This morning, I just want to thank God for His Great Translator, the Holy Spirit. I invite y'all to slow down a moment and think of all the times you haven't had the words but you knew that God understood your inner groaning anyway. Perhaps you care to share your thoughts with us? How do you feel the Holy Spirit within you when you run out of words? Do you feel tongue-tied? Do you feel like groaning? Do you speak in tongues? Perhaps you just sit in silence? Me, I most often feel a groan within. Words are not nearly as communicative. - LG

"For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Romans 8:26b

(𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘢 2014)