Silence can be many things.
For a mother, the sound of silence can mean either her children are asleep or getting into trouble. For some, it can mean peace and a time to think. For others, the sound of silence is too loud and they need something else to drown it out. I suppose it depends on your preferences.
Most of the time, I like the sound of sounds: children playing and laughing, music, the water boiling in the pot, the knife chopping vegetables on the cutting board, the breeze through the trees, the ocean waves, the sound of the cars' wheels in the driveway announcing someone's presence, book pages rustling, the keyboard clicking...the list is endless.
Though I occasionally enjoy silent moments, I cannot imagine never hearing the simple sounds listed above. Many of them bring back a certain memory.
What about the deaf? They have never heard the sounds I have described and some only have their memory to remind them of the sounds heard long ago. There are 100 million deaf in Africa and only 20 missionaries reaching them. Think about that statistic for a while...
Tabernacle Baptist Church hosted the DBFA (Deaf Baptist Fellowship of America) this week in a conference and it was an eyeopening experience for me! I was able to attend a couple of services and be immersed in and surrounded by sign language. There was an interpreter for the hearing but everything was done in sign language. My sign language is very limited, but I was able to pick up quite a bit, and even converse with a couple of people. What impressed me was the passion these deaf attendees had! I dare to say they showed more passion about the Word of God than most of the churches I have visited. If only their signs could have been heard!
As I sat and watched the preaching and attempted to keep up in signing the songs, I thought to myself, "What a beautiful sound this sound of silence!" So many of us have missed the joy of being deaf. We let the sounds and voices of this world drown out the sound of our God speaking to our hearts. The Lord spoke to me during the bits of the conference that I was able to attend. We need to learn to silence ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to speak. Many times we let noise of this world distract us because we are afraid of what God wants to say to us. We purposefully drown out God's voice.
I have allowed the Lord to use my voice for His glory, but what about my silence? Will I give my silence to the Lord for Him to speak to me? What about my hands? Will I allow Him to use them to sign the Gospel?
Priscilla, you are an amazing young lady with such knowledge of God's grace. I hope you are writing a book & this will be one of the chapters. We need more young people dedicating their lives to serving the Lord, instead of self. May God continue to richly bless you as you seek to do His will. etc
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words!
DeletePriscilla, this is Tabitha. You know my sister, Mary, from college. I work at Silent Word Ministries, and our president and his wife, Jon and Diane Barr, were at DBFA this week! As I understand, he led the music and she helped interpret. Did you get to meet them? They're a wonderful couple. :) That's awesome that you were able to attend some of the meetings. Great article. So true...it's easy to become involved in much and busy, busy, busy. Funny how hard it is sometimes to "be still and know" that He is God. I hope you will learn sign language if the Lord leads you. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun! God bless!
ReplyDeleteTabitha! Nice to "meet" you! Yes, I had the privilege to meet Bro. Barr and we spoke of you and Mary. I did not get the opportunity to meet his wife but hopefully some day I will get the chance to!
DeleteThank you so much for your work at Silent Word Ministries and also for your encouragement! Mary has helped me learn some sign language and I hope to continue. May the Lord bless you for your work and kindness!