Thoughts about being voiceless

Who is Nat?

My name is Natalie Husk, although most people call me Nat (except my parents!). I was born and raised in Cornwall and am proud of it! I have always been involved in the church, whether going to my local village chapel in Common Moor, joining with bus loads from Cornwall at MAYC events, helping at the District Children’s Holiday or even attending Synod a few times! I am very thankful to the Cornwall District, the Liskeard & Looe Circuit and of course Common Moor chapel for being such valuable parts in my journey of faith.

Today I live in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where I work as a youth worker for the Methodist Church. I run after school clubs, youth clubs, a youth fellowship, do outreach work and organise trips away. Not long ago I was asked by a youth group, to give them a weekly topic for reflection, an email containing something to focus them on God for the week. So every week I sit at my computer and write down my thoughts! It started quite small, with just the young people receiving them, and now lots of people of all ages find my thoughts in their email inbox!

It is a huge privilege for me to find that people enjoy and are challenged by what I have written, especially that I can now share what God has done for me with those who walked with me at the beginning of my journey. Ultimately these reflections are aimed at the young people I now work with, but if God can speak to others through them, how great is that!!

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District Property Secretary

District Disability Officer & Deaf Link Person

District Ministries Panel Secretary

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December
Advice
I Love You

November
38. Bald is beautiful
37. Fire
36 Sleep
35 Music

October 2006
34. Stupidity
33. Painting
32. mmm Pasties
31. Built to last
30. Phlegm

September 2006
29. Meetings
28. Crime thoughts
27. Colours
26. Unwanted guests

August 2006
25. Comparison
24. Waterproof Mascara
23. Tasty MSG
22. Helplessness

July 2006
21. Attraction
20. Hair
19. Hero
18. Laughter
17. Factoids

June 2006
16. Voiceless
15. Bruises (ouch)
14. Sunburn
13. Mistakes

May 2006
12. Arms
11. Willow Tree
10. Eurovision
9. Chicken
8. Addictions

April 2006
7. Age
6. Celebrities
5. Language

March 2006
4. Commonwealth Games
3. Decisions
2. Drizzle
1. Trelawney

Voiceless

Hey! You may wonder why this is in such small type. The fact is that I’ve lost my voice, I’m speechless, without volume, and I wanted to represent this whilst typing. Hence the small print.

Unfortunately the whole ‘I can’t talk’ thing is not uncommon for me and so you’d think I’d be used to the frustration and inability to communicate properly. But each time my voice goes AWOL I come across the same struggles as before (not including the pain and illness that goes with it!). Firstly there are those who feel that they must whisper along with you, like we are sharing some secret and don’t want to be overheard. How stupid is that?? All it does is result in neither of us hear anything and communication is fruitless. But this is better than those who assume that my voice is somehow linked to me ears and that in fact I am suffering from deafness! Just because I have no volume doesn’t mean you have to multiply yours – I am not deaf or stupid, so stop SHOUTING!

So here I am struggling with a complete lackage of voice and an inability to communication properly with those around me (don’t get me started on telephone conversations – no I am NOT heavy breathing!). I could link this to how we are called to speak up for those who have no voice (not literally, I don’t think Jesus was talking about the mute!) and shout out against for injustice. A great and noble thing to do, but not what I was thinking.

As I am stuck at home, laying on my sick bed all alone, the thoughts that come to me about communication are far more personal. So my message this week is this: choose your words carefully. Make every word count. While you have a voice say the important things to the important people in your life. “I love you” “I’m sorry” “Thank you”. Please don’t assume that you will always have the time to tell them how you feel – you may miss the moment and take it from me, silence is not always golden!

So as I reach for my throat sweets, I’ll whisper at the top of my voice, I love you, I’m sorry and a massive thank you, and I pray that those who need to can hear it!

All my love, Nat xxx