What is this pause called?

It’s called the choice not to sin.

I experienced this choice recently when I was dealing with some very challenging behaviour with my own child.

It had been a long busy day. I was not equipped to fight. I just wanted to rest. But the situation with my child, gave me an inkling that a “sin-storm” was just about to hit!

Have you heard of a sin-storm?

No?

Me neither.

I only heard of a sin-storm this morning when I was typing this post and the two words coupled beautifully together.

A sin-storm is where everyone sins in a stormy situation!

During these times, a Christian slides down to the tail end and starts to engage with serpentine thoughts at the tail!

Instead of engaging with my child, I simply walked out of his room and closed his door.

I said nothing.

At that moment I realised something significant. Every difficult situation does not require a sin response or even an immediate disciplinary action for my child.

Sometimes in life, withdrawal is only possible as you allow the other parent, God Himself to take over and supernaturally parent!

God never sins. He certainly does a much better job with our children than us!

I told God, “You are a parent too. Please help me parent this child. I can’t do this alone!”

God knew I was exhausted. God knew that Satan always likes to attack us at our weakest point. When this happens, it is easy to sin then. For me, saying something rude and unsupportive to my child would have weakened my parenting skills and I would have probably said something I regretted.

We often forget God is a Father. He has children. He gets it! He knows we all struggle with family issues.

After I chose to say nothing and withdraw from this difficult situation with my child, I saw the old defeated Helen! But only in fiction, thank God!

She was shouting at her child, she was slamming the door and then she went to bed miserable for losing her self control. Then she woke up the next day, feeling awful.

But thank God, a better non-fiction Helen emerged that night!

She wasn’t shouting and losing the plot, no, rather she was trusting God in the silence.

It was a Helen who had not picked up the tail!

What do I mean by that?

One night I had a dream.

In the dream there was a small snake on the ground!

Like a rattle snake.

I will only talk about the end scene in the dream.

The snake.

After waking, I asked God what the dream meant.

His message was clear.

“Do not pick up the tail.”

Rather stay at the head position with Christ.

When we pick up Satan’s tail, we start to engage with Him and move away from God’s best.

Satan wants to be your head, so you can be his tail!

God wants you and I to know, that during difficulties in life, we must not pick up Satan’s tail end.

“If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom.”

I’m very thankful to God I did not embrace this sin-storm that night!

I went to bed with zero regret.

I felt a great peace.

It was a wonderful feeling.

Thank you Lord!

I had kept my mouth shut while I trusted God to open His.

When you are facing this space….just before a sin-storm hits, PAUSE.

This one PAUSE will truly change the whole course of your week for better.

In the PAUSE, you recognise God’s power to help you not sin.