Sometimes we find ourselves standing still in life. We have our dreams and goals laid out ahead of us but we are in a season of feeling like we are motionless, not moving fast enough towards the dream, goal or promise. God has planted these dreams in us and we have said yes to partnering with Him in them and we start to make some progress and then it just seems like all of a sudden we are put on pause. We enter into a waiting season and to me that feels like the most difficult part of my journey towards my dreams. Not the starting point where I decide to step out in faith and do something but the waiting period.

But I am reminded time and time again along my walk with the Lord that we are never on pause with what God wants to do with us, because it is not always the thing that we are doing that God is interested in but He is interested in us, in our hearts and our character.

In 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 11 it says…

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

God gives us promises and plants dreams and desires in our hearts so that we can partner and participate with Him. When we are put on pause it is not that the Lord is withholding from us. He has not left us, we have not heard wrong, we just have some growing and developing to do within ourselves before we move on.

We had the faith to step out and partner with the Lord which He so loves and now in our time of pausing we need to make sure that we are adding to our faith and strengthening our character. There is nothing like a period of standing still in your life to test you. Are you willing to press on towards the thing He has for you or will you give up in frustration and defeat.

It is just like it says in the scripture above…

…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…

If we want to be effective we need to be adding to our faith even in our season of being on pause.

Use the time to lean in to the Lord and listen to what it is He wants to work on within you. To be effective and productive you need to have strengthened your heart, your mind and your character. When I feel that the Lord is wanting to work on something within me I just ask Him to reveal what it is. I go to my closest and trusted friends and ask them to pray and to hear from the Lord for me as well. I try to get to the root of the problem, and weed it out so it no longer holds me back. I try to identify the lie I was believing and then replace it with the truth.

So if you seem to be standing still in a season, remember that you are not on pause. You are still moving forward but moving forward in matters of the heart not matters of the hands. Use your season of pause to draw close to the Lord and to hear His voice and to become more like the wonderful person He created you to be.