What happens when your neatly planned life is turned upside down by unexpected events? Sometimes things happen we can't plan for and our only choice is to respond in the best way possible.
We've been in an unexpected pause of our podcast recordings over the past two months. It started out when our team was disbanded unexpectedly. We had two weeks notice that we were losing our producer, the amazing experience and basically the technological brains of our show! Dean, our producer extraordinaire was taking a new position and leaving the communication agency where we'd been doing our recordings!
Now what?!!!!
In the midst of trying to figure this out, Andee, my co-host, lost her mom. That’s always a tough thing to deal with and it happened at a critical time in our schedule. (Is there ever a good time for someone to die?) We were less than two weeks from our Bold & Courageous Leader retreat. So we cancelled the retreat.
As we struggled through the process of regrouping, it became obvious that there is a purpose in the pause that we can’t anticipate. We learned embracing the pause is the best way to move through it. We can’t control the external events in our lives. We might as well roll with them, embrace them and be open to the potential opportunities that are in them.
As we move back into our podcast recording rhythm, we may be a little off schedule for a while. We’re still rebuilding the infrastructure we had before. Dean is back in the producer chair. We found a new way to work together. Yea! And Andee is with us, thank God. Her heart is hurting, as she lost her mom, but she is here and will continue to co-host with me.
We’ve reflected on the pause in our podcast and business; we’ve learned some things from the experience. We’d like to share them with you.
Causes for a Pause
There are many causes for a pause in life. We discussed three potential causes.
- Death
- Family emergency
- Team challenges
A pause invariably carries costs. It can cost you momentum and reputation in the short term. Fortunately, both can be regained over time.
In the pause, it’s difficult to see the purpose, the good that God will bring out of it. But God will bring good out of the pause. God uses a pause for His purposes. What opportunities is He presenting in this pause?
- New perspectives
- New insights
- New ways to connect to those you are to serve.
The Purpose in the Pause may be shaping you for a new season of Masterpiece Work………
- Progress on our masterpiece work comes in seasons.
- A Pause may shape our masterpiece work in new ways.
- God can use a pause to do some new transforming work.
Have you experienced a pause in your life? Has God shown you a purpose in that pause? How can you use the purpose in the pause to move toward your masterpiece work? We'd love to hear from you.
