‘Even the Tongue of Stammerers Will Speak’
IT WAS the afternoon session of a special assembly day of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), and hundreds had met to receive Bible instruction. I was standing behind the platform reviewing my part. It wasn’t a major one. Two young Witnesses were to relate experiences, and I was simply to serve as chairman for the part. That morning I felt inner stress, and now it was escalating. I literally felt paralyzed, weighed down, and unable to speak.
You may be thinking that almost everyone would be nervous in such a situation. But this was more than just a case of nerves. Let me explain why.
My Speech Problem
At the age of 12, I fell and injured my head, neck, and spine. After that, I would occasionally stutter or have difficulty forming words, especially words starting with the letters p, k, t, d, and m. Sometimes I wasn’t even able to speak.
The problem didn’t bother me much at the time; it seemed to be a mere inconvenience. But as the years passed, I developed a real fear of any kind of public speaking. I fainted once while giving a report at school. And sometimes while I was shopping, when clerks would ask what I wanted, I could not answer them. As I stood fighting to speak, their irritation would grow: “Hurry up. I don’t have all day. Other customers are waiting.” As a result, I could not buy the items I needed.
My school years were very difficult. When I had oral reports, schoolmates would make fun of my stammering. Yet, I graduated from high school and in 1979 went on to study at a university in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Since I enjoyed athletics, I took courses to be a gym teacher. But how could I realize my goal? Despite misgivings, I forged ahead.
Seeking Help
There had to be a way of ridding myself of my speech impediment. So after graduating from the university, I determined to get professional help. I sought out a clinic in Prague specializing in the treatment of speech problems. During the initial consultation, a nurse blurted out: “Your neurosis is something else!” It hurt me to think that she considered me neurotic, even though experts agree that stuttering is not a neurotic condition. It did not take long to realize that I faced a unique challenge: I was a young man of 24, and all the other patients were children.
Soon the whole staff, including the psychologist, got involved in helping me. They tried everything. Once, they forbade me to speak to anyone for five weeks. At another time, they allowed me to speak only in a monotone and v-e-r-y slowly. While this approach helped, it also won me the nickname Snake Charmer because many fell asleep during my reports.
Contact With Jehovah’s Witnesses
One summer day in 1984, while I was walking downtown, two young men approached me. It was not their outward appearance that astonished me but what they said. They said that God had a government, a Kingdom, that would end all of mankind’s problems. They gave me their phone number, and I later phoned them.
At the time Jehovah’s Witnesses were not recognized as a legal religious organization in Czechoslovakia. Yet, before long my interest grew so much that I began attending their meetings. I could just feel the love and concern the Witnesses had for one another.
The Road Toward Confidence
Help for my speech problem came in the form of what is called the Theocratic Ministry School, a school conducted weekly in every congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was urged to enroll, and I did. Based on the suggestions presented in one of the school’s textbooks, the Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook, I worked on such speech qualities as fluency, pronunciation, sense stress, and modulation.a
My first student talk, which was a Bible reading, was a fiasco. I was a nervous wreck and hardly made it home. How thankful I was for the relaxing effects of a hot shower!
After that first talk, the school overseer kindly gave me personal attention. Not only did he offer me constructive counsel but he commended me. That gave me the courage to keep trying. Shortly afterward, in 1987, I became a baptized Witness. A few months later, I moved from Prague to the quiet little town of Žďár nad Sázavou. The small local group of Witnesses warmly welcomed me. They also accepted my still rather halting speech, and that boosted my self-respect.
In time, I began conducting a small Bible study group, and then I gave my first public Bible talk. Eventually, after the change of government in Czechoslovakia, I began giving such talks in neighboring congregations. In unfamiliar surroundings my speech problems returned. But I did not give up.
Meeting Special Challenges
One day a Christian elder invited me to his place of work. He said: “Petr, do I have good news for you! We would like you to participate in the upcoming circuit assembly.” I felt faint and needed to sit down. To the disappointment of my friend, I declined the offer.
That refusal haunted me. I could not get it out of my mind. During Christian meetings whenever mention was made of trusting in God, that refusal came back to me with pain. Gideon, who by God’s direction faced the entire Midianite army with only 300 men, was sometimes referred to at the meetings. (Judges 7:1-25) Here was a man who truly trusted in his God, Jehovah! Had I followed Gideon’s example when refusing that assignment? In all honesty, I could not say that I had. I felt ashamed.
Yet, my Christian brothers refused to give up on me. They offered me another opportunity. I was invited to participate in a special assembly day program. This time I agreed. Grateful as I was for this privilege, frankly, the thought of addressing a hall full of people petrified me. I really had to work at increasing my trust in Jehovah. But how?
By closely considering the faith and trust other Witnesses had in him. Doing this strengthened me. Even a letter by six-year-old Verunka, the daughter of a friend, served as a fine example for me. She wrote: “In September, I am going to school. I do not know how it will be with the national anthem. I believe that Jehovah will fight for me, as he did for Israel.”
Well, those were just some of the events leading up to the afternoon session of the special assembly day that I spoke about at the outset. I had prayed fervently. Now I was not so much concerned about my fluency of speech as I was about praising God’s great name in front of this large audience.
So there I stood with a microphone planted in front of me, facing hundreds of people. Then, realizing that the message is more important than the messenger, I took a deep breath and began. Afterward, I had time to assess matters. Was I nervous? Certainly, and I even stuttered a few times. Yet, without God’s support I knew I would not have been able to speak at all.
Later I began musing over something a Christian brother once told me: “Be glad you have a stuttering problem.” At the time he made that statement, I was really surprised. How could he say such a thing? Looking back, I now understand what he meant. The speech problem I have has helped me to rely on God rather than on myself.
A few years have passed since the afternoon of that special assembly day. During these years other privileges that involved speaking before large audiences have come my way. I was appointed as a Christian elder in Žďár nad Sázavou and also as a pioneer, as full-time ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses are called. Imagine! I then spent over a hundred hours every month talking to others about God’s Kingdom, not to mention the time I spent weekly teaching at our Christian meetings. And now I serve as a circuit overseer, giving talks to a different congregation every week.
My heart simply glows with appreciation whenever I read this particular prophecy in the Bible book of Isaiah: “Even the tongue of the stammerers will be quick in speaking clear things.” (Isaiah 32:4; Exodus 4:12) Jehovah has indeed proved to be with me, helping me to ‘speak clear things’ to his honor, praise, and glory. I am very content and happy to be able to praise our most merciful God.—As told by Petr Kunc.
[Footnote]
a Published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.