Greetings all. I figure it is about time for an update on good ol’ Gretsie’s life. I have been in Zambia for about a month now working with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Ministry consisted of going out to the streets and villages near by and encouraging the people there by telling them all about how amazing our God is. I live in Livingstone, tourist central for Zambia and I am blessed with coffee and a grocery store that is walking distance from my house. After living out of my tent in India for three months I am blessed even more with a mattress and proper bathroom. God is so good!
Since India the Lord has spoken so much over my life. We are called to be obedient and trust Him with all that we do. This trip has been a huge step into that. I have been working through two concepts recently “Freedom” and “Bold Silence”. Freedom can mean so many different things depending on how you look at it. These past seven months I have never felt so free. Freedom is walking in the knowing of who God says I am. He calls and says so many things over my life and freedom is simply walking in those things without a care in the world of what people think of me. Living my life knowing that I have an audience of one. It is walking and living my life in boldness and having my confidence and joy come from the Lord. There is so much freedom in Christ and if that is where it comes from than shouldn’t we feel and live freely if we are walking in the character that God created us to be. If we find and root, really root, our identity in Him there will be so much freedom every where you go.
For example, God has spoken so many things into my character and one of those things has been boldness. About a week ago my team did listening prayer for each other. The words:
“confident” “bold” “you have a powerful voice, use it.” “you walk in freedom” “you constantly make people feel seen” “you’re filled with passion”
All of these things are words that I have had spoken over me for a while now. It wasn’t until I got a specific two words that drew in my attention. “There is an amazing amount of power in boldsilence.” But what does that mean. Bold Silence… God, why are you throwing this random oxymoron at me. What does this mean???
After sitting on it for a while He finally said
“awkward silence is not real.”
I paused, thought and waited. Finally coming to the conclusion that He was right. The phrase “awkward silence” is just a mere filler that the society we live in created. We have grown up in a society that has no clue when it comes to silence. We get nervous and uncomfortable so we come up with a saying the fill in the deafening silence. So many times we find ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to do. We let our minds run the second a space becomes quiet. Although being in the world we grew up in we don’t want that to happen. We don’t like to let our minds roam into the unknown. Rather than opening up the silent place to be filled with the Holy Spirit we let our minds and our tongues run. Consuming this “silence” with useless chit chat and uncomfortable bantering. Blah,Blah,Blahh. Making up some type of “filler conversation” trying to make this “awkward” silence less painful for our eardrums. We struggle to listen and actually listen. So as we sit in rooms that are never found actually “sitting”. We sit, somehow content, in a world that does not sleep. A world that never rests. Our souls and minds are overwhelmed at the thought if sitting just to sit. To rest with out the distractions of our technology or other people.
So what is “Bold Silence”?
It is remaining confident in the words that are not spoken. Allowing space to be cleared and open the the Holy Spirit to speak. Not calling it “awkward silence” but calling it “BOLD SILENCE” instead.
