How to Find and Embrace Your Voice

Your voice matters. You hold and have experienced a unique and one-of-a-kind story that belongs to you and you alone, and it matters to the world to hear your voice. It can be difficult even to begin finding our voice for many of us, but once we do and we step into fully embracing who we are and who we were made to be, sharing your voice will follow.

Recognizing Your Passions

Within each of our hearts, there are passions that illuminate our lives and spark excitement. Part of finding your voice is investing in your passions because they help to fuel what you have to share. Nurturing the things in your life that brighten your life can help you towards your voice. Consider what makes you feel alive, what makes you want to get up in the morning, or something that you would never cancel plans for. Choose to not let these remain hobbies but to embrace them more richly. Dare to take the rabbit hole down of possibilities as well; you never know what a hobby could evolve into.

Recognizing Your Strengths

What are some of your strengths? Are there places that you find you naturally excel in, and practicing towards those strengths only adds to the level of skill you have? These strengths can be a conduit towards finding your inner voice. For many, there is the need to acknowledge strengths because once you do, you can overcome the fear, timidity, or insecurity of stepping out into your strengths. If you were given a talent, it is a gift and something you should not waste. Consider the Parable of the Minas given to the workers in Matthew 25. All were given a certain number of minas, also called talents, but only two chose to invest the talents for returns. The other hid his talent away beneath the surface. Don't waste the talent God has given to you; invest it, grow it, and nurture it. You never know how God might just use that talent He gave with your name on it.

Pray for Clarity and Discernment

The most vital step of all in discovering and embracing your voice is partnering with the Lord. Ultimately using your voice should glorify Him who graciously gave you that voice, but there must be a connection to understand how and when, and in what context it is to be used. Come before the Lord in prayer to ask for clarity and discernment of what it looks like to come into the person God made you to be. Remember that it is not overnight either. Growth takes time. Consider the story of Esther. She would one day have one of the greatest voices in all the world to advocate on behalf of the Jewish people to King Xerxes, but it took time to prepare her for that day when she would use her voice for her people on behalf of God. The book of Esther tells us that it took an entire year for her to be prepared to even be presented to the King as a potential bride, and then came the time where she stood in her title and role as Queen. When the time was specific and right, she was given the task to speak to the King on behalf of her people, but that was years in the making. Perhaps God is taking time to prepare you in your voice for something big just as He did Esther. Don't discount your season and position now because every moment in preparation matters to the big picture.

Boldness to Step Up Into Your Voice

In accepting your voice, your true self, and who you were made to be, there will be a call towards becoming bold. This may look like sharing in front of great crowds, or this could look like taking a courageous leap from something you never thought you'd have the bravery to do. Yet, in any situation, boldness becomes the next step into standing firm and standing tall in using your voice. Remember that even in the fear that can overwhelm you or the passing thoughts that come to discourage you from the Enemy, God has called you forward into this daring place for a reason. Esther 4:14 shares, "perhaps you were called forward for such a time as this." Perhaps the opportunity that unfolds before you is meant specifically for you to take all you have learned and grown to live out in confident action. Partner with God, confirm with Him that indeed this is the call on your life, and then boldly step into all that the Lord has for you at this moment. You never know how it could impact lives to come.

Challenge Yourself

Life is full of challenges, whether they come from inevitable outside places or from an inner call within to give yourself a challenge or goal. At times that inner imploring to rise up is needed to get you to your next level. Without a doubt, it will feel uncomfortable at first, but think about how that very moment could be the one that years from now you mark as the moment everything changed. The minute in time that you chose to embark on something bigger than what you had known or seen before, and the time in which you truly embraced and carried out the voice and call on your life. You will never know unless you take the leap into trying. Align yourself with God and see where He might lead you to challenge yourself to that new season in your life.

Prayer

Father God,

We thank You that You made each of us so different, so special, and so vividly and wondrously one of a kind. Lord, we pray that You would continuously help us unlock and discover our inner voices with You. Empower us to know how, when, and where to use those voices so that ultimately, they glorify You in praise. We pray out in remembrance the words of Psalm 139:13-14, "for it was You who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise You because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made." We know that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, so Lord, help us today to fully embrace who we were made to be and to boldly live that outwardly for Your glory, Your honor, and Your Kingdom alone.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

CS Lewis once wisely stated, "The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own." What this means is the more we allow and invite God to indwell within us and reveal to us Who He is, the more in time and turn we will find that inner and distinct voice He has made for us. Trust Him in this process and seek to embrace all the good He has for you.

Cally Logan is an author and US History teacher from Richmond, Virginia. Her works have been featured on "The 700 Club Interactive," “Jesus Calling Blog,” and “Coffee and Bible Time,” among several notable outlets. She served as a mentor for young women for several years and enjoys challenging women to develop deeper relationships with God and to live fearlessly and authentically. She received her B.A. Degree from Regent University. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in nature, having genuine chats over coffee, and woodworking. Her new book, The Wallflower That Bloomed, is available everywhere now. Connect with Cally: @CallyLogan Instagram CallyLogan.com