The Courage to Pause: Find Strength in Stillness

Courage is usually associated with doing big bold things. Today, I want to talk about the Courage to PAUSE – to stop where we are or what we are doing – and to reflect.

Why is it good to sometimes pause?

  1. Pause to Reflect on God’s Purpose
    In our bid to pursue our dream, we sometimes lose our way. It is always good to pause along the way, to realign with God’s purpose and to review our progress to see if we are still on the right path. It is easy to detour or get distracted or get sidetracked from God’s purpose. Hitting pause gives us a chance to review and realign our plans with God’s purpose. It is in the stillness that you can hear the soft whisper of God’s voice.
    “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
  2. The Strength to Wait in Faith
    Sometimes we become impatient with our progress and feel we can’t afford to wait, especially when we are waiting on God’s timing. Waiting on God is His way of strengthening our faith – as we trust Him in the waiting. Rest assured, He is working behind the scene to prepare us. Just like brewing soup takes time to extract its flavours, growing in maturity takes time and patience.
    “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)
  3. Rest as a Source of Courage
    God sometimes call us to rest, but we are reluctant to do so. We feel guilty when we rest, so we continue to push ourselves. However, rest is necessary to restore our strength and creativity. Rest gives us a way to step back so that we can see that we are moving in the right direction. Rest gives us a moment to review our journey and see the progress we have made. Rest gives us the courage to reflect and make bold decisions intentionally.
    “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

This is my invitation to you today: have the courage to pause and find the strength in your stillness.

When Prayer is like Making A Stew

One of my favourite dish is good beef stew. The beef is tender and flavourful, tasty and nutritious. It takes quite a lot of ingredients, and perhaps a few hours to cook a really good stew.

Why I am talking about beef stew? Because it reminds me of PRAYER.

Prayer is like cooking a stew:

1) Select the ingredients – God chooses us and prepares the family and friends for us, in accordance to His plan

2) Wash the ingredients – God cleanses us from our sin

3) Prepare the ingredients – God prepares us in many ways, like “cut”, “shred”, “chop” or “slice” – those who has gone through tribulations would relate to these preparations

4) Follow the recipe steps to cook the ingredients – God shows us the steps to have a blessed life

5) Cover and simmer for a few hours – waiting on the Lord to work His miracles in our lives

Sometimes, we don’t follow the recipe or we leave out an ingredient or two, resulting in disaster. But our Master Chef God is always able to recover from our mistakes and make a delicious dish. Sometimes, He even create a brand new, even more delicious dish! There is nothing He can’t recover from. He is the God of Master Chef!

The most important part is the simmering, where the full flavour of the ingredients is extracted to give its wonderful taste and nutritious value. And that is why it is so important to wait on the Lord as He brings out our best qualities and bless us abundantly.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us – Ephesians 3:20

When we become impatient and try to “shortcut” God, we ruin God’s wonderful plan for us. Do not be deceived when you see nothing happening during our “simmering”, for this is the time where the best work is being done by God as He grows our character and extract our full potential to do great works for His kingdom.

If you are in a season of waiting – like I am – trust that God is working in our lives in wondrous ways.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

  • Psalm 34:8