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God—Master of Mysteries!

Have you, on occasion, experienced a moment when something profound comes alive in a brand new sense? In a “eureka moment” this past week, I had been thinking about how disheartening it is to no longer be able to communicate verbally with Jon, my family, our little mixed-breed terrier, Emma, neighbors, and friends. It wasn’t a pity party—just a genuine grieving for the loss of something so personal and precious. 😢

In my February 9 post “Let’s talk tongue,” an excerpt from PubMed.gov includes:

Loss of communication effectively imprisons
the patient in a state of isolation.

Deeper contemplation of the word “imprisons” brought to mind accounts of people unfairly incarcerated. Having committed no crime worthy of such harsh punishment, their confinement was ordered by hateful, totalitarian regimes. Sometimes their imprisonment culminates in horrific executions. Ultimately, others are released.

A prisoner in isolation is alone in a dark cell. He or she still has their voice but have no one to talk to. In a 180 degree flip-flop, a person with bulbar ALS does have people to talk to but no longer has a voice to communicate.

So what was my eureka moment?

We’re almost there . . .

Grasping a truth, as if it was the first time . . . the same God Who made me, loves me and has graciously communicated with me through the Bible and His unparalleled handiwork in creation.

He HEARS ME even though I cannot audibly talk.

HE KNOWS MY THOUGHTS!

Here are the appropos words of David recorded in Psalm 139:1-4 (Amplified Bible)

O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

What could be more reassuring—
God is listening and understands me
even when I don’t utter one single word!!!
I am not isolated from His presence!
He’s got me firmly in His grip.
He knows what this disease is doing to my body.
He understands my groanings—
even though I cannot utter intelligible words.
God needs no intrepreter.

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Let’s talk tongue

From KidsHealth.org

Has anyone ever told you that the tongue is a muscle? Well, that’s only partly true: The tongue is really made up of many groups of muscles. These muscles run in different directions to carry out all the tongue’s jobs.

The front part of the tongue is very flexible and can move around a lot, working with the teeth to create different types of words. This part also helps you eat by helping to move food around your mouth while you chew. Your tongue pushes the food to your back teeth so the teeth can grind it up.

The muscles in the back of your tongue help you make certain sounds, like the letters “k” and hard “g” (like in the word “go”). Try saying these letters slowly, and you’ll feel how the back of your tongue moves against the top of your mouth to create the sounds.

The back of your tongue is important for eating as well. Once the food is all ground up and mixed with saliva the back muscles start to work. They move and push a small bit of food along with saliva into your esophagus, which is a food pipe that leads from your throat to your stomach.

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