A Long Pause…The Hiatus

Have you ever been there? To the Isle of Hiatus? Surrounded by water without bridges to the past and the bridges heading into the future are not yet completed. So, it’s island life. It isn’t a bad thing, just different.

Presently, you are most likely on a hiatus, also. One you did not script. In one way or another, you are.

This pandemic, the reactions and interventions individually and collectively have placed us all on some sort of hiatus.

A hiatus is any interruption or break in our normal, fluid lives and the continuity it inserts into our lives; a disruption of our daily life, its work, series, actions, roles, and a reverberation from each of these changes.

We’ve all had these seasons of pause into transition, with births of kiddos, changes in jobs, education, business, family dynamics and needs, health, focus, deaths, opportunities, and interests.

I met my husband, Jack. I fell in love. Love and relationships can be quite disruptive. (I smile here!) My focus changed. I started working on project after project with Jack. Many days from sun up to sun down. I worked arduously and kept inordinately busied.

Changes bring us in to unsettled spots. We are in transition. Transition is not always adventurous but more like hard, and difficult work.

I made some mistakes. I never gave myself time to write. My creative thinking and literal walking with God, changed. The projects and type of work I did consulting were put on hold and in my mind, better left to others as I was in a new space and time.

Relationships changed. I felt estranged from some friends, family, and those I worked with in non profits as well as business groups. I fell away from much of my “tribe.”

Sometimes it feels like things like this are forever, and that brings grief. But in all actuality there are seasons of times, seasons which prepare, which plant, which harvest, and give rest.

It is hard to trust the seasons to do their jobs.

I can bring impatient.
I drank more coffee but had less time for “coffee.”
Priorities had changed. Yet, strangely, even though I was letting go of so much known, I knew I had to–like it wouldn’t work to try to hold on to past ways. Like doors were closing and funneling me into different directions. So much good was happening yet it was amidst a season of much loss and change during this transition time (loved ones passing was especially hard).

Enough about me and fragments of my story.

Let’s jump to you!

Have you found yourself in hiatus status and wondering when it will be time to go back or to move into something new. Do you feel like you aren’t ready. Like it is all a bit riskier?

Interruptions in life, especially those not “planned” by us, can be scary. It can feel as if things are out of control, and maybe they are: out of “our” control.

You know, this is where faith in God’s sovereignty, His plans and ability to work in our lives brings hope and solace–and direction.

Aren’t we all in a time when we must acknowledge life is out of our control? Maybe that is okay because God has not abandoned us; He still has a future for us, a vision, a plan.

He is holding that plan. He is entrusting you with it.

Do you have a vision or a seed of a vision? Seeds do grow when they are planted and cultivated. Trust the timing.

My personal hiatus is coming into a transition. I won’t be doing any about faces, racing to what was but rather trusting God for what will be. His purposes and plans for you and me are good. They are meant for an expansion of what God has put into you to do–and to be.

The world needs you and me.

Take Hope with you into the future. If you need someone to work with, I am back in business. If you need a helper via a workbook, I suggest you pick up my book, get busy, and enjoy the process along the way.

~Annette