Disney's "Speechless" in Comparison to Christianity // Guest Post by Katherine Perry!

    *waves awkwardly* Heeeeeey, everyone. Yeah it's me. The ole gal who hasn't posted, like, at all this month. *coughs* That's TOTALLY on me by the way.

    

    Well...and life being busy.

 

    Including me trying to get a lot written in Before the Flames during November. 

    

    Which is mostly going like this:

    Okay, okay, maybe not that terribly. I mean, it's not going as well as I would've dreamed it to, but realistically it's going better than I had originally thought. So yeeaaaah. But more on that in the Know the Novel Part 2 post (which you can expect to see before the month is up)! I'm also gonna try to get another post in before December (one in which I can catch up on some tags I'm behind on hehehe) but I'm noooot completely 100% certain if it'll be ready in time ('cause Y'ALL THERE'S ONLY LESS THAN TWO WEEKS LEFT IN NOVEMBER 😳😳😳) so we'll seeee!!!!

    HOWEVER, enough about boring lil' me! Today y'all have a suuuuuper special treat in store because the FANTABULOUS, SO-AWESOME-I-DON'T-EVEN-KNOW-WHY-SHE-LIKES-BEING-FRIENDS-WITH-ME KATHERINE PERRY is guest postiiiiing!!!!!! Katherine and I go waaaaay back, ever since I first found her and her sisters' blog Teen Writer's Nook last November! 

    *blinks* Which means we've known each other for a year. 

    *blinks again* Which means time really does fly. 

    *faints* And now I feel Officially Old. 

    BUT, of course time passes quickly when you're getting to know one of the sweetest, kindest, and most encouraging people EVER!!!! That's just how life rolls, y'all.  😉 Soooo, enough chitter chatter!!! Let's all give Katherine a HUGE round of applause *pauses to clap super loudly* and welcome her to the blog!!!

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Thank you so much, Victoria, for asking me to guest post!!! <333 I am so honored to do this!

“But if I say I’ll never mention the LORD or speak His name,

His word burns in my heart like a fire.

It’s like a fire in my bones!

I am worn out trying to hold it in! I can’t do it!”

-  Jeremiah 20:9 NLT

[Song credit: “Speechless” by Alan Menken, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul from the Disney 2019 Aladdin movie.]

    Have you heard the song “Speechless” from Disney’s 2019 Aladdin movie? (If not, I recommend you listen to the lyrics.) It ignites a passion to speak our minds, doesn’t it? Well, have you noticed its comparison to Christianity? In this post, I’m going to break up some of the lyrics and talk about them in pieces. Here we go.
    “I won’t start to crumble whenever they try to shut me or cut me down.” As Christians, we won’t give up or give in to what the world wants. We will continue to stand for Jesus, even if we are persecuted. (See 2 Timothy 4:5.) We will stand firm in the faith. I think there is proof in history that this is true for us. Often we hear of stories about when Christians were killed for their faith and more people received Jesus because of it. People saw that even in the face of death, Christians would not deny their belief, would not deny that Jesus is real. 
    I’m not saying everyone, but lots of people try to silence the Christians. They want us to keep quiet about Jesus. But aren’t we allowed freedom of speech? If other people are allowed to talk about their beliefs, why can’t we? “Stay in your place//Better seen and not heard//Well, now that story is ending.”
    “I won’t be silenced//You can’t keep me quiet//Won’t tremble when you try it//All I know is I won’t go speechless.” We will not be quiet or speechless about Jesus. When we say we won’t tremble, it’s because we know God is on our side. If you are an unbeliever, you may be wondering why Christians are adamant about talking about Jesus. This is because we have a passion deep inside our bones, longing to break free. (I’ll point you back to the verse Jeremiah 20:9.) No matter what, we will never stop talking about Jesus. I mean, after all, He did save our lives. That doesn’t sound like something we would be keeping quiet about. 
    “‘Cause I’ll breathe//When they try to suffocate me.” This is what this line means to Christians: when people try to take our life, God gives it to us. This doesn’t necessarily mean that our life will be physically restored on this earth. It could mean that, but it also means that God gives us spiritual, eternal life. Ultimately, He is the giver of life. For Christians, death does not reign.
    “I cannot be broken.” People cannot break us because God is holding us together. He is our rock and firm foundation. “No, I won’t live unspoken.” We are too passionate to live unspoken. As Jeremiah said in the verse at the beginning of this post, we can’t do it. We can’t live unspoken. Jesus stood up for us, so in return, we want to stand up for Him. Matthew 10:32 talks about acknowledging God here on earth.
“Though you want to see me tremble when you try it.” This couldn’t be more true. The persecutors want to silence us, to see us “tremble.” But how can we when we know that our God is bigger and more powerful?
    Now I want to use Jeremiah as an example (of course, there are many other great examples). If you are unfamiliar with who he is, Jeremiah was a prophet for God. He told the people the messages God gave him to say. Jeremiah was whipped. He was thrown in prison. People plotted to kill him simply because they did not like what he had to say. Did that stop him from speaking about God? No, it didn’t. Yes, there were times when he wanted to keep quiet because he was frustrated and afraid of the people. But as we saw in the verse I shared at the beginning of this post, he could not keep quiet. So, he continued to preach God’s messages. He would not go speechless. Although it may not feel like it now, God will bless you for standing up for Him.
    I give credit to God for every word I wrote in this post. Lord knows I prayed over it countless times. I hope you have found this post inspirational or enjoyed reading it. In the comments, tell me: Do you like the song “Speechless”? What is your favorite line from the song? Anything else about the song you’d like to share? I can’t wait to hear from you!!!

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Katherine Perry is the co-founder of the blog, Teen Writers' Nook, and the co-editor of Teen Writers' Nook Imagine anthology. She finds her identity in Christ and hopes to show people the love of Jesus. She enjoys writing in a variety of genres and creatively challenging herself.