The Pregnant Pause

I'm sharing this blog post from a few years ago. It encouraged me this morning. I want you to know that in whatever season you may be in, that God has not forgotten you. It is not a wasted season in His plan. 


Pregnant Pause: A pause that gives the impression that it will be followed by something significant. 

Since we have a DVR, I love the pause button. It comes in quite handy when a interruption breaks up a great show or scene. Instead of missing out, I can pick up the remote and click pause. After tending to the interruption, I can click play and pick up right where I left off. 

Needless to say, this has transformed my TV viewing. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could apply this to life? If we could pause those nasty interruptions that barge into our lives? Better yet, if we could click play and go back to the much longed for days we had before? A nice thought, but alas it can never be. 

I read the definition of a pregnant pause this morning. The pause I’m in right now doesn’t feel like a pregnant pause. I honestly feel sometimes nothing significant will come from this.  Perhaps you feel the same way about yours. 

Do you think Joseph felt that his situation was a pregnant pause? We all know that yes, something very significant happened at the end. But in the middle of a pause, the outlook can be quite grim sometimes. 

Somewhere along the way, Joseph began to see that God had him and this situation well in hand. Genesis 45:5-8 reveals his awesome faith in his God. Listen to what he said when he revealed himself to his brothers:

 “And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God."

Reading this really elevates your faith doesn’t it?  When you know your purpose and whose hand is on your life, the interruptions of life will not sway you.

It also means that the pauses of life aren’t wasted seasons. We don’t just endure this “wasted” season of our lives until favorable conditions return. There isn’t a pause in His presence, His grace, in His purpose for us. 

God is working now. He is preparing our hearts. Changing us from the inside out. Easing the bitterness out of the wound, and creating a tender heart. He is blessing others through us now. Yes even now in this pregnant pause. 

Joseph was a blessing to his master, and to his fellow prisoners. God used him powerfully in the middle of the pause. But you and I have to let Him do this don’t we? It’s alway a choice isn’t it? 

I don’t always want to choose the right way. The old twisted sister would love to wallow around in self pity, moan and groan to whoever will listen about my sad lot in life, indulge in those ugly thoughts, and just be miserable to everybody. 

Like David, I’m speaking to myself the truth. That my God is still at work now. His purpose for me has not ended. I can be a blessing now. 

This isn’t just a pause, an interruption. It’s a pregnant pause. Because of the faithfulness of my God, something significant will happen. 

The Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- the LORD, who remains faithful forever. Psalm 146:6 NIV