God Speaks in Words Our Heart Can Hear

“And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability…
‘How can this be?’ they asked. ‘These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!’”
— Acts 2:4, 7–8 (NLT)

On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God moved with unmistakable power.
Wind. Fire. Wonder.

And then...words.

Not just any words, but words spoken in many different languages and dialects. It’s easy to focus on the miracle of tongues and miss the tenderness that underlies the miracle:

God cared that every person heard the Gospel in the language of their heart.

The book of Acts tells us there were Parthians, Medes, Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and the province of Asia; Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, and visitors from Rome; Cretans and Arabs (Acts 2:9–11). Some of these people spoke widely known languages, but many of them spoke regional dialects, the kind of speech shaped by family, community, geography, and culture.

The Spirit didn’t just settle for a translation.
He chose familiarity. He chose home.

This is who God is.
God didn’t just make the words understandable, He made them personal.

At Pentecost, He spoke to each heart in the language it knew best.

This makes the miracle of Pentecost about more than just understanding; it also makes it about relationship.
God looked at each person in the crowd and said, “I see you. I know where you’re from. I know the voice that feels like home to you.”
It wasn’t simply that their ears caught the message, it was that their identity, culture, and story were acknowledged and honored. That kind of divine recognition goes beyond communication.
It dignifies.

At Mending the Soul, we see this same miracle every day:
God meets wounded hearts in the language of their pain. He speaks not just the words of Scripture, but the “dialect” of the abused, the trafficked, the neglected. He meets the survivor not with distant truths, but with truth wrapped in understanding, in presence. in the specific voice we need to hear.

At Mending the Soul, that’s why our trauma-informed healing model isn’t one-size-fits-all.
Just like Pentecost, the words of healing are not only translated—they’re contextualized.

For example, our Native American Workbook was created in collaboration with Indigenous leaders and trauma experts to reflect the stories, symbols, and language of Native communities. It integrates Native art, cultural metaphors, and storytelling that honors the lived experiences of Native survivors and offers a path to healing that is both biblically faithful and culturally meaningful. It doesn’t just speak to them, it speaks with them, in the voice of their community and the rhythm of their voice.

• For one woman, that might look like journaling in Swahili.
• For a man in Arizona, it might look like rewriting the distorted theology spoken over him by a pastor.
• For a teen in Central America, it might be hearing, “You are not dirty". 

Pentecost reminds us: the Gospel is not generic.
It is personal. It is precise. It is perfectly timed.

Jesus doesn’t call us to rise up to His level before He’ll speak.
Through the Spirit, He comes to us where we are; in the middle of grief, addiction, trauma, and shame.
And He speaks in a voice we recognize.

As we celebrate Pentecost, may we remember:
God still speaks.
And He speaks in words our heart can hear.