Here I Am - Speaking in Tongues?

In the second week of the English Village, the students gain enough skills to practice working on presentation. It is at this time they are to share a ‘monologue.’ This means they can choose anything to share, but it must be done in English. Each are to sign up for a specific day and time of the class sessions – these were to be presented on Wednesday or Thursday.

My students happened to sign up first on the list. Eliana, our sweet 16 year old, would be the very first, Douglas was to follow in the afternoon.

In the days prior to their sharing, we worked on their specific English challenges. Both were anxious about having to share on a more specific level. Eliana told me she had never shared a testimony about her life even in Spanish. Being quite nervous, she told me she decided to only memorize a verse from scripture. Douglas, although he had experience teaching in church, worried about every verb and proper sentence structure. It became apparent they both needed encouragement to not expect that they must speak perfect English. We worked through their pronunciations and thought processes, but most importantly we prayed the Lord would help them use their limited English to communicate from their heart by giving them the right words to use.

Those two days for monologue were days I will long remember. I was delighted and thrilled as Eliana surprised us all by not only sharing a Bible verse (totally different than the one she told me she would be using), but by also sharing the story behind that verse from a memorable time in her childhood. Douglas gave a more detailed story from his youth and of how God reached his life in a miraculous way.

Eliana and Douglas, and others in the sessions following, each shared specific scriptures that meant something in their own life journey. Sections such as Jeremiah 39:17 & 18, or Proverbs 3:3 – 8, or Isaiah 41:10. They shared heart wrenching experiences of rebellion or death, of love and marriage, of heat ache and healing. Some could only speak a few sentences, but they communicated more with just those few words than many of us can with our ramblings. No one escaped without tears or tenderized hearts because we understood through those limited words. We understood because these students were able to use the richness of God’s Word to overcome the human language barrier. We experienced an incredible work of His Spirit last week – ‘speaking in tongues’ holds a new meaning because of the preciousness of God's heart spoken from His Word.