What I meant to say was….

Toddlers sometimes get their words mixed up. My nephew would reach up to me, saying, “Hold you” when he wanted to be held.  They usually learn ‘no’ before ‘yes,’ and so when asked if they want a bite, they say no, all the while they are opening their mouth for a bite. And of course, as they are learning, many words are used ‘wrong’—cows may say ‘ruff, ruff,’ or the sky may be ‘green,’ and so on.

When those words are mixed up, we lovingly try to figure out what they really mean, and understand that they’re learning. I didn’t enter into a long discussion with my toddler nephew as to why he couldn’t hold me--I scooped him up in my arms.   

Talking with God is often like that. We say one thing; however, God knows our hearts and what we really need, but don’t know how to ask. And scripture has a promise for when we don’t know what to say, ‘For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.’ Romans 8:26.

He's waiting....He wants to hear, both what we say and what our hearts are trying to say. There's no language barrier with Him. After all, He created both communication and the communicator.