To Pause 2023 - Stephanie Shipman

When I think of the word pause~ I immediately go back to a day when I was teaching school (long ago in a distant land- HA!) a boy had a splinter and needed it removed. I was just about to pull it out when he says, “Pause, pause, pause!” He didn’t want it to hurt. He wanted to know if there was another way (not with a needle and tweezers) to get the splinter out.

I assured him this was the fastest and most proficient way to get this tiny piece of wood out of his hand. While he was asking another question - that I honestly cannot remember what it was- it was out! But those words still ring out in the back of my mind. “Pause, pause, pause!”

This year my plan and I feel the Lord has led me to this… the Pause. To focus on the pause  or pauses of life. I want to listen to when the Lord says, “ Pause.”  I believe the Lord wants us all to “stop for a minute,” or to “linger” here for a time. He always has a reason. He may have something better for us or He may simply be protecting us from what we can’t see. 

Pausing ~ waiting on the Lord.

Waiting for what? Waiting for HIM to guide, lead, and direct.

Lamentations 3:25 “The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks the him.”

I would be the first to say that I am NOT a patient person. I do not like to wait. I see it ~ I want it ~ let’s get it! I want to be “in the know”! But I think we can all agree that the things or times we’ve had to wait, the end is so much sweeter. Plus my heart becomes like Mary when she says, “… my soul doth magnify the Lord.” My prayer is by the end of 2023 with every ‘PAUSE’ I can see the hand of the Lord working in my heart. You know just as I was able to pluck that splinter out of that little boy’s hand while his mind was on other things - He was on Pause and didn’t know what was coming, Christ wants us to pause and see the wonders He has for us. 

Lord, I desire to see the wonders of You while I ‘pause’, while I linger where you would have me to linger, while I simply wait for your guidance and direction.