The Ministry of Silence

…A time to keep silent and a time to speak.

Ecclesiastes 3:7

She never said a word yet the way she ministered to me spoke volumes into my pain and devastation.

We had just gotten home from the hospital after the stillbirth of our second child when a friend dropped a gift bag at our door. She didn’t ask to come in. She didn’t sit with me and say all the “things” we all hope will ease the pain of loss. She didn’t even write a card. Without saying a word she ministered to me in a way I have never forgotten. Inside that bag was a book on miscarriage and stillbirth from a Biblical perspective that became instrumental in my healing process.

I believe there is power in the ministry of silence. True, there are times when we do need to speak, but there are also times where our words are insufficient for the circumstances at hand. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is the only one who can speak into our needs.

And sometimes, as in the case with my friend, our actions speak louder than any words we could speak.