“I am not dumb now,” she declared with delight. Helen Keller (June 27, 1880—June 1, 1968) experienced a life-changing breakthrough and uttered her very first sentence. A violent fever bedeviled Keller as a baby, confiscating her ability to speak, see, and hear. But thanks to her lifelong friend and teacher Anne Sullivan, Keller was introduced at ten-years old to the principal of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston, Sarah Fuller. Most are aware of Sullivan’s tireless support for Keller, who remained by her side until she died in 1936, but fewer are familiar with the remarkable techniques this caring principal employed to help Keller speak. 

Fuller gently placed Keller’s little hands in her mouth, allowing her to feel the sounds of consonants and vowels as Fuller’s jaw, tongue, and teeth moved. Keller then practiced speaking simpler words like mamma and papa, and after only seven lessons, she mastered the basics and murmured this turning-point sentence. Profoundly inspired, she quickly mastered lip-reading through touch, “hearing” speeches from President Roosevelt and jokes by Mark Twain, and even deciphering what was on the radio from its vibrations. She diligently applied herself to all subjects, from arithmetic to zoology, and upon graduating college with special honors in English, she delivered her first public speech in 1913. Afterward, she embarked on transcontinental speaking tours, sharing her exhilarating turnaround story with the world—all because a patient teacher named Sarah Fuller helped a mute woman speak.

This is precisely how the Holy Spirit operates in the hearts and lives of believers. Without the divine assistance of this Teacher, we are spiritually mute—unable to speak to God or about God to others. He teaches us how to pray when we cannot find the right words (Rom. 8:26), making the syllables of prayer natural to us. And He forms the gospel of Christ on our lips when fear makes us speechless. As Jesus promised, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:11-12).

“But when the Helper comes,” Christ assured, “whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness” (John 15:26-27a). This does not mean you will always speak on stages—it does mean that, through the empowerment of the Spirit, any location can be a pulpit to speak for Christ. When you submit to His power, the Holy Spirit will turn your silence into sharing—whether at the dinner table, the hospital room, the workplace cubicle, the local church, or the classroom. Thus, whenever you stammer in prayer or struggle to speak for Christ among others, remember: because of the Teacher-Spirit, you are not dumb now.

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs, Susie, Aries, and Dot. Brandon and Dakota are also foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and a religious columnist for the Advance Yeoman newspaper in Ballard County, Kentucky. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. His columns are also featured in the Times-Argus newspaper of Central City, Kentucky, West Kentucky News of western Kentucky, and the online blog, Reforming the Heart.