Silence. It is something that I have come to appreciate on the race and something that is rarely obtained, especially this month. Anytime you have 26 people living in a house you can expect a lot of activity and a lot of chatter . . . but make that 26 girls and the chatter never stops. To be honest, I don’t think that there have been 2 minutes of silence in this house, from sunrise to well past sunset, since we arrived . . . until this past Monday (6/25).
On that day, many of the girls in our house participated in a time of fasting and silence in order to remove the distractions that often keep our focus off of what God is trying to reveal to us. This was an activity that the Lord put on the heart of our squad leader for the girls on our squad to do in order to set aside time to encourage each of us to seek after the Lord on a different level. The fast would be from all food and drink except water until 8pm and everyone was instructed to be silent in the house after returning from ministry. The house would come together for a time of worship and communion at 8pm to close out the day.
I have to admit that I was skeptical going into this. Though I have been a Christian for many years and have been serving as a missionary for the past 6 months, this was my first experience being involved in a fast of any type. However, I decided that as I’ve done with other practices that were new to me before this journey, I would give it a try and allow the Lord to do with that as He would.
The food part was simply an act of discipline . . . but the silence was more of a challenge. I was hungry and missed my caffeine in the morning, but I was able to move past that by the time that I got back from ministry at 1pm . . . however, that’s when the real challenge began. If you know me at all then you know that I am a talker and I come from a long line of talkers, so keeping silent for about 7 hours in a house full of friends took a greater level of restraint that only a deeper communion with the Lord could inspire in me.
I spent my afternoon alternating between activities of reading the scriptures, writing out prayers, listening to praise music, and journaling . . . all the while speaking to and listening to the Lord only. There were moments of emotion and moments of clarity . . . neither as dramatic as I would have hoped but both more evident than I had honestly expected going into it. Then coming together in the evening for a time of worship & communion with ladies whom I have developed such close friendships was a perfect end to the day.
I am glad that I chose to participate and appreciative for the experience that I had that day. I think that we can all benefit sometimes from a little sacrifice and removal of distractions to give God the reverence and attention and honor that He deserves when we come to him.
If you haven’t tried it before, I encourage you to give it a shot, and fast from food, talking, and/or other activities as the Lord leads you. I pray that you would be pleasantly impacted by the experience, as I was, but regardless of your experience a little restraint and “quiet time” never hurt anybody.
