The acting world lost one of it’s most famous voices in recent history when James Earl Jones passed away last month. I always imagined that if God ever spoke to me in an audible voice, it would sound like James Earl Jones. Obviously, not like Darth Vader, but his normal acting voice and his voice for Mufasa in The Lion King. With great depth and care. However, would you believe that he was nearly mute for almost eight years of his childhood? Some difficulties in his family caused him to begin to stutter at the age of 5 and he became so embarrassed by it, that he virtually stopped speaking all together. After 8 years, a teacher who believed in him encouraged him to begin to read his own poetry out loud and he went from strength to strength.

I had no idea about James’ background or story until after his death but it made me think about how easy it is to discredit ourselves from doing things. More often than not, it’s because we feel we are not enough or someone has told us so at some point in our lives.

As many of us are aware, Moses in the Bible had a stutter. When God asked him to go to Pharaoh to tell him to release the Israelites from slavery, he felt completely inadequate because of this and tried to get out of it.

He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!” Exodus 4:13

How often have we said that to God or even to others, when we don’t feel confident to step out and do something that we’ve been asked to do or feel we should do? Maybe it’s because we don’t feel equipped like Moses or maybe it’s because we’re shy or embarrassed like James Earl Jones was about his stutter.

Sometimes this can be a problem which spans many years, like it was for James or sometimes it can be one line that can stop us in our tracks at a point in our life that makes us feel shame. I didn’t paint anything for many many years because when I was ten years old, my teacher looked over my shoulder at a painting I had done and said “Ugh, it looks like a four year old has painted that!!” It was like a statement that rang in my head every time I thought about painting and it also stopped me from drawing, which was something I had loved as a young child. I still loved craft and was creative in other ways but never did any freehand design after that. Until, one dull Thursday evening in a staff meeting, we were taught how to “winkle”. This was painting with a very thin brush and making an impression on the paper with water colours. I was astounded to see that I could do it and surprised colleagues when I told them I hadn’t used paints since I was a pupil at Junior school myself.

Many of you will know that I wrote songs and performed them at venues and also on the radio. I probably came across as very confident but it wasn’t always like that. When I first started to use the voice God had given me, I couldn’t sing in front of anyone. I used to stand in the kitchen and make them sit in another room so I wasn’t able to see them looking at me. It took a long time to build up the confidence to sing in front of an audience, but God was with me every step of the way.

God sees you and all the amazing potential you have. If James Earl Jones had never taken that risk to step out and read the poetry that he had written, then he may never have been the person we remember with the powerful voice. Is God speaking to you about something He wants you to step out and do, but you feel afraid you might fail? He will always equip you with everything you need. As He says in Jeremiah 29:11

“I know all about the marvellous destiny I have in store for you, a future planned out in detail. My intention is not to harm you but to surround you with peace and prosperity and to give you a beautiful future, glistening with hope.”

Whatever you need the courage to do today or to begin today, look to God to equip and inspire you. He would never call you to step into something that would cause you shame but always has you as you take one step at a time. In Exodus 33:14, He said to Moses

“I will personally go with you Moses, and I will give you rest – everything will be fine for you”

He was with Moses and He will be with you…always. Take that first step today! He’s got you!