I left home Thursday morning to travel to Kentucky and share alongside my Dad at a conference.

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It was supposed to be a quickie.

Two workshops. One keynote. Sign some books.

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In on Thursday. Back home on Friday morning before my kids have even finished their breakfast.

I woke up today at 3 a.m. so that I could leave for the airport in enough time to catch my “dark-thirty” flight.

Tried to check in on line and realized that I couldn’t.  Jumped on to the airlines website to figure out what was going on with my flight.

It was canceled.

C-A-N-C-E-L-E-D

I went to my window and saw why.

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Storms. Wind. Rain.

Yucky weather.

There was a part of me that wondered if it really was too bad to fly or if my flight was canceled as a result of a domino affect of other airport/airline drama.

Not only was I canceled but I was rebooked on a flight for tomorrow.

TOMORROW!

There was a part of me that refused to believe that I couldn’t do something about this imposed change of plans. I thought this mess would be possible to fix. So I got on the phone and held for over an hour.  OVER AN HOUR… only to be told that the best to be done was for me to take a flight that would get me in late tonight.

I took it.

But I was still left with a packed suitcase, a hotel room, and more darkness left before the sun would come up.

There was a storm outside.  My flight was canceled.  There was nothing to do but go back to bed.

My flight created an opportunity for me to pause my life.

Just for a moment.

It wasn’t my preference or my choice.

In fact, it bothered me to pause.  I want to go home.

But I didn’t have an option other than to wait on my next opportunity to make a move.

Sometimes life is like that.

Storms happen. Rain comes. Plans are canceled.

We are left with no choice other than to pause.

We are left with no other choice than to get back in bed and make the best of the situation.

I could have stayed awake.

I could have gotten work done.

I could have written this blog post earlier or got some reading for done for school or gone for a run in the gym (which I’m not going to do because the gym at this hotel cost extra money – NOT!).

But I chose instead to hit the pause button, get back in the bed, and rest.

What do you do when life throws some manner of cancelation your way?

Do you push through?  There are times when that’s the right thing to do.

Do you throw a get upset? It’s OK every now and then to be emotional about it.

Do you try to fix it? There’s nothing wrong with holding for an hour if that’s what you gotta do.

But at the end of the day, sometimes there is nothing left to do other than accept the cancelation, get back into bed, and enjoy the pause.

Sometimes it’s actually the best thing to hit the pause button before life does it for you.

We women are an industrious group of people. Sometimes we simply don’t know when to call it quits and take a break. Womanhood somehow has coded into our DNA a “don’t-take-a-break”,  “max-it-out”, or a “go-all-the-way” code.

That’s actually what makes us so strong.

But I just want to tell you that if you have had something in life cancel your well-intended plans.

It’s OK to the break.

It’s OK to rest.

It’s OK to scrap your plans and hit the pause button.

Sleeping in this morning left me a bit refreshed.

So I decided to tell you about my morning to encourage you to be okay if you life throws a storm, wind, or rain your way and you are forced to be still.

Pause.

It may just be a good for you.

It’s okay if stuff has gotten canceled in your life.

It’s okay if things haven’t turned out like you planned.

It’s okay if it’s taking longer than you thought it would.

It’s okay if you take a minute, collect yourself, and take a deep breath.

And it’s ok to be honest about the fact that you are a bit bummed that there is a little rain, wind, or even lightening in your life.

Need to have a tantrum?  Do it here.

Need encouragement to push through?  Get it here.

Need to resist the urge to fix it and take your hands off and rest? Share that here.

Let’s pray.

For ourselves.

For each other.

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It’s a beautiful thing to see women praying for each other.

So here we go…

As always, feel free to pray about A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G

But if you are helped by having a topic to focus on for prayer…

Pause.

 

Again… feel free to pray about anything that concerns you.

But if today’s prayer focus resonates with you, pray in that direction.

So how exactly does this work do you ask? Keep scrolling for the details…


So excited about prayer this weekend!


Help spread the word!

 

If you are new to our prayer on Fridays or need a little refresher here are the details…

 

1) Post YOUR prayer.
First, scroll to the end of the post to find the section for comments.  Keep scrolling to the end of the comments to find the empty box where you can leave your prayer request. Click “Post Comment”.

2) Pray for someone else.
Then, look above you in the comment thread for the person who posted just before of you.  Hit “reply” and pray for them.  That way we make sure that everyone gets covered!

Please don’t feel insecure about your ability to pray for another sister or feel that her request is above your spiritual “pay grade.” Just pray with your heart.  God hears. He works with the words that we have and then He takes care of the rest.

3) Post your pic!
Make sure we can “see” you! Go to Gravatar.com so that others can see your face in the comments! (It’s easy! Just click on the green button labeled “Get your gravatar today” )

4) Pray more
Once you have left your prayer request and prayed for the person above you, if you have a few minutes feel free to reply and pray for any other comment/prayer you see in the thread.