Yesterday (Sunday, August 3rd) was another big day for me in my recovery from surgery to remove a polyp from my left vocal fold. You see, it was last October after teaching on Sunday morning two weeks in a row that I knew something was seriously wrong with my voice. Yesterday, I taught again in both services and my voice felt clear and strong!

My speech pathologist is pretty convinced that it was my speaking voice that was my downfall. As a high tenor, I’ve always spoken at the bottom of my range and speaking for a long period of time has always tired my voice out. So, that has been the focus of my post-op speech pathology regimen. In short, I need to learn to speak the way I sing. Engage the diaphragm, support my tone with lots of air and make sure my face buzzes with a natural resonance instead of falling back into my throat. I know, I know. It sounds crazy, but it actually works!

I shared a bit of what I’d learned in the intro to my message. People laughed when I told them I was just going to sing my message just to be safe! But, I am happy to report that I was able to speak my message–not once, but twice–without my voice feeling fatigued!

Once again, I am so thankful for the healing that God has brought to my voice through the wonderful professionals at the University of Michigan’s Professional Voice Center. It is a huge answer to prayer to know that I can both sing and speak normally once again!

And, in case you’re curious, you can listen to my message below. It is part of a series we’re doing at The Well called “Hollywood Theology 2” where we use clips from movies as a teaching tool. My message was on the full armor of God and the movie I used as an illustration was The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Remember who the real enemy is! You can listen to it here minus the copyrighted video clips.