It was the year 2012, and I was invited to travel with a team from my church to attend our annual outreach at Hampton High School for girls. The group included members of our Praise and Worship and Drama ministries.
On arrival, we found the Hampton girls gathered in the chapel. All seats were filled. They were totally immersed in the praise and worship, and the drama presentation was well received.
TIME FOR THE WORD
The morning’s speaker was a well-known Jamaican-born and bred evangelist with international acclaim. She is also a former “Shotta” who had a “Damascus Road” experience one night when she was on a journey to ‘complete an assignment.’
Being from the ghetto and having no formal schooling, she grew up barely literate and numerate, and English was a totally foreign language to her. After her conversion, she was taught to read and write by the Holy Ghost, so she would simply open her Bible and He would make it all clear to her.
In all her evangelistic assignments, both local and overseas, she would speak in her form of Patois (‘Jamaicaneze’) about her pre-conversion life, her post-conversion life (her walk and experience with the Lord Jesus Christ). All present (no matter which country – and translators were available for non-English speaking nations) would understand and receive the message. Over the years, many have come to know Christ through the power of God working in her.
However, on this particular morning (maybe because of the teenage audience), she attempted to deliver a message in the “Queen’s English” and from a pre-prepared text, neither of which was her style.
THEY LOST INTEREST, AND THEN…
The students soon became disinterested and were even giggling with each other at her attempt to speak ‘standard’ English.
Realising this (and as the moderator for the programme), I decided that when she was through, I would invite her to speak about her life experiences pre- and post-conversion.
But the Holy Spirit intervened before I could. Midway through her presentation, she abruptly stopped ‘twanging’ and suddenly started speaking fluent patois.
The moment she did this, the students became totally captivated and were hanging on to every word. They remained enrapt up to the very end of her delivery.
After the service ended, almost all the girls gathered around Evangelist Deborah under the largest tree on the campus, where she spent the next ninety minutes speaking to and counselling them.
In this lesson for today, you are reminded to be whom God designed you to be, and His anointing will do the rest.