A lot of people have a hard time with the awkward silence.  You can be sitting in a group and someone will ask a question waiting for a flurry of responses.  Many times those expected responses don’t come and instead the room is met with the chilling and dreaded silence.  In predictable nature you can always find that one person who has a slow smile develop on their face, a slight shift in their chair, the nervous glancing around.  And then the inevitable comment that comes out of their mouth to end the pain.  You can sense the relief as if the weight of 1,000 cattle had been lifted off their shoulders as noise returns to the room.  Usually it's Brooke.

This morning in our devotions at Living Hope a fellow volunteer shared with us some thoughts on prayer and it got me thinking about the area of prayer that I have been feeling challenged by recently........how to pray by listening. 

It is easy to talk to God.  It doesn’t take any special training or skill to do that.  A relationship is a two-way street built upon the ability for both parties to be able to express themselves.  God wants us to share our thoughts, our needs, our struggles, our confessions and our praises with him.  But how often do we spill out all our needs and wrap it up with a nice “Amen” and move on to the next thing.  Do we give God a chance to respond at that moment?  I think many of us have gotten so used to the email culture that prayer time with God is like doing just that.  Type out your prayer, hit send, check that off your list as accomplished and look for an answer in the next 24 hours.  What if God has something to say right now?

I have started to try and change my prayer time up to be about half of me speaking to God and then the other half listening.  It’s difficult.  Several times at the beginning I start to listen only to catch myself 5 minutes later thinking about a sandwich or something......generally one with meatballs......and a lot of melted cheese.  For me I have never had a hard time sitting still and quiet though.  If you know me for more than an hour you will know that I could be the world champion of quiet sitting.  The hard part is staying focused.  How can I not only sit still and quiet, but be focused enough to break through the discomfort to hear in the silence.  God will speak and lead your thoughts and direct your heart so that you can decipher his direction and instruction.  It might not make sense at that very moment and might take time to realize what he was saying, but don’t miss to opportunity to listen.

Now, by no means have I mastered this ability to stay focused in the quiet.  I mean, I really like thinking about food.   But I am working on it.  And I do feel like I am hearing more of what God is telling me in those sometimes awkward moments of silence.  I don’t necessarily always like what he has to say, but rest assured in the quiet he is saying much.  The question is usually just whether I am listening.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”  John 10:27-28

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” Psalm 37:7a

Tate

Here is a little video update of our last 10 months in Cape Town.  We are so thankful for all of you who have been so generous in your prayers and financial support.  We are humbled by the people that God has put on this journey with us and we are always thankful for all that is done to allow us to serve here.  Hope you enjoy!

Wow…I just noticed we have not written a post since September!  I've even had friends ask if maybe they accidentally unsubscribed since it has been a while!  I apologize.  The good news is we are alive and well.  And we have been BUSY.  
Life has been continuing on and we have been submerged with work at Living Hope, life with the girls and finally getting to entertain friends for the first time.  The seasons are changing and we find ourselves coming of hibernation and staying busy.

We were blessed to have a set of our closest friends over for a week back in October.  We met Kelli and Roger BEFORE Tate and I got married.  We are entering year 13 of a wonderful friendship with them.  We spent holidays together and vacationed together so it has been a struggle to not be with them over these last 10 months.  They came to town and we were able to do some of the fun touristy things together as well as just letting them be with us and experience life with us in Africa.

Saying goodbye AGAIN to close friends was depressing but again the Lord has protected our hearts and we are reminded that even though it STUNK to say goodbye we are loved by many. The time really refreshed us though and was encouraging and gives you that extra boost to keep going.  We are blessed because the next few months brings several more folks our way to love on.

Tate recently had the opportunity to help a friend build a new house.  What?  Does Tate know how to build a house?  Well, this house was a windy shed that had been given to this person.  Our friend had recently been living in an 8 foot by 8 foot shack and he was sharing it with his wife and brother-in-law and a newborn baby.  Tate was honored to be a part of this process and humbled by our friends thankfulness for what he had been given.  It was a moment where we had to really take it all in because I know ourselves and we are so unthankful for many of the things we have.  We complain about things we think we are entitled to have.  Tate was blessed to be able to be involved.

The craziest part of all of this is to look back and realize we have been here almost one year.  Where has the time gone??  School ends in two and half weeks.  It has been a wonderful experience for the girls and they have loved everything about school and their new friends.  The next few weeks brings a visit from RANDY AND JANE TUCKER!!  Yes, my mom and dad are making the 27 hour trip over here.  They will get to see Olivia in a nativity play and Abbey's award ceremony.  We are ecstatic to have them on the continent of Africa!  Feel free to add them to your prayer list as they are a bit nervous and apprehensive at the moment. 

Things shut down for a good part of December and January so please pray for a safe and refreshing time with our family.  We are gearing up for an exciting 2014 and excited about what God has in store for us in year two.

Brooke