The Power of the Pause

When life slows unexpectedly, it can feel like something has gone wrong. In this opening episode of The Sacred Pause series, we explore Ecclesiastes 3:1 and the truth that every season — even the unplanned ones — has purpose. Through personal reflection and Scripture, we begin to see that a full stop is not wasted time, but sacred space where God does deep and unseen work.

Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Welcome back to Digging Deep for Treasures podcast. If you've been here before, thank you for waiting and if you're new, I'm really glad you found your way here. This podcast has been a pause for a while, a longer pause than I ever planned. I tried to restart it once, but life had other lessons to teach, and what I've learned through God's word during the season is this. A pause is not wasted time. Sometimes God does his deepest work when everything feels quiet, and now I'm back. Not rushed, not perfect. But obedient. This year I'm relaunching this podcast with fresh clarity, renewed obedience, and a deeper understanding of the value of the pause and the peace that comes with it and what God can do in us when we stop striving and start listening. Thank you for being here. Let's talk about the power of the pause. One of the first lessons my driving instructor taught me one that really stuck was the importance of first slowing down and then making a full stop at a stop sign, not a rolling stop, not briefly lifting your foot off the gas and then continuing on, but a complete stop. Over the past five years, God has reminded me of that lesson again and again. This episode begins a season of reflection on what God has shown me through his word about pauses, especially the ones we didn't choose. ES three one tells us for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. If you're like me, you love to plan, but sometimes our best laid plans don't materialize the way we expect them to. In December of 2019, my life slowed down in a way I didn't expect. My brother experienced a brain bleed, and almost overnight I became a caregiver supporting him from a distance while caring for my dad full-time at home. It was the beginning of a pause. I didn't choose, but one got gently placed in me, and then 2020 arrived and the world paused to the layers of responsibility, uncertainty, and exhaustion, deepened. Eventually that season led me to retire from my teaching after 32 years. What I've come to understand is this. God wasn't taking anything from me. He was rearranging my time so he could meet me there. Some pause come from responsibility. Others come from grief. In 2022, my brother passed away in 2024. My dad passed away as well, and we also lost two of our dogs. Each loss asks something different of me. But together they required a pause to grieve. Grief slows you in ways productivity never can. It changes your pace, your focus, and sometimes even your prayers. During this time, I learned that grief is not something to hurry through. It is a season that needs to be honored. During my years of caregiving, God placed it on my heart to write a devotional for caregivers. It came from lived experience, prayer and a deep desire to encourage others walking similar paths. But after all the losses, I had to pause my pursuit of publication. That pause was hard. Not because the calling disappeared, but because waiting required trust and to believe that obedience sometimes looks like setting something down, not pushing it forward, and then came another pause. My husband was diagnosed with a condition that required open heart surgery last February. Of last year, everything slowed down again as we focused on his health and recovery. Once more, God reminded me that seasons don't stack by accident. Each pause was an invitation to trust him with what mattered most. In that moment. Scripture tells us that for everything there is a season. Looking back, I can see that these interruptions, were intentional. God was present in every one of them, teaching me how to wait, how to listen, and how to trust his timing. If you are in a pause right now, I want you to know this. Your season matters. Slow down, then embrace it, knowing God is with you. Even in this pause, ask God to show you what he wants you to see and learn in the season, and to transform you into who he wants you to be. Es three 11 says, he has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Be blessed. Thank you for joining me today on this episode of Digging Deep for Treasures. If you enjoyed it, I'd love for you to subscribe so you don't miss any future ones. Of course, it would be amazing if you leave a rating and review. This will help more women to find a podcast and growth in their hope and peace. If you're not sure how to leave a rating and review. Click on the podcast app you are listening to and look for the rating and reviews option. I'd like to also invite you to join my private Facebook group so we can get to know each other more. It's a great community where we can engage, learn, and grow together. Just hop on to @Digging DeepforTreasures. Then enter your name and email and you will receive an invite for the group. Or you can also connect with me on my website@cecillevaloria.com or at in my Instagram, @valoria cecille. Thank you once again and may you have a blessed week. See you in two weeks.