The Interrupted Life. These words have been at the forefront of my mind and my heart in many recent seasons. While I’m driving, with my children, in the middle of responsibilities and commitments, throughout friendships, during life’s trials, and in the unexpected.
A few years ago, I heard …“Come on, Mommy. Come on.” The sweet words of my two-year-old as he grabbed my hand, looked up at me with his big blue eyes, and wanted me to run with him from the dining room to our living room to play. My hands were full and I was doing house work but I couldn’t help but immediately stop and run alongside him. We had some great mommy-son time and in that moment, he knew that I not only love him but I like to be around him too.
“Mommy, sing the words with me!” My oldest said this to me as we sat around the kid table for lunch together. I was focused on getting my food down fast before the baby needed me. My thought was “we are eating, let’s sing later.” As much as I wanted to ignore it, my heart couldn’t say no. I took a deep breath, put my fork down, and began singing along with him. “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay.” He smiled the entire time as we sang. My food got cold, but my heart was warmed and filled by those few minutes. While we sang those words together, the truth of God’s joy was diving deep into his little heart and into mine. What a gift that I am so thankful didn’t pass by without me taking part in it.
Interruptions. Some small. Some are big. Every interruption takes our attention off one thing and on to another. What if God is trying to lead me toward His guiding and direction for my life in those moments? What if He is trying to take my attention off the things that don’t really matter and lift my head toward those that leave an eternal impact.
The interrupted life is one that I so desire. I desperately desire not to stay so caught up in the mundane and day to day tasks that I miss those interruptions. As I am in a season of motherhood with little ones, those interruptions seem countless and honestly, not always convenient. Sometimes it’s easy to completely ignore them or pass them by. Sometimes I want to beeline toward my own agenda and plans and glaze past those interruptions.
How often do we do that with God? Is the agenda for our day so rigid and self-centered that we beeline toward the things that are only for personal gain or our own goals? What if God is trying to interrupt our plans for His? Would we even be aware of His voice? Would we recognize His whisper? Would we say “no” to ourselves and “yes” to Him OR would we keep on with our own thing, bee-lining to cross off the next item on our “to-do” list at work or home.
How many interruptions (or maybe a better word would be “leadings”) have I missed or allowed to pass by? That phone call from a friend who needed encouraged, the conversation that needed to be ended in prayer over someone, the meal I needed to bring to the couple in need, the time that I could have chosen to stop and ask my husband about his day instead of staring at my phone, the smile that could have blessed someone in pain, the conversation where I chose to speak the entire time instead of listen, the opportunity to share my own testimony that could have brought freedom to another person’s situation. God desires for us to walk in obedience and listen to Him every step of our lives. I thank God for the people in my life who have been open to those interruptions. Those heroes of the faith who have stopped by my house to encourage me when I was at my lowest, the woman who brought soup to my door step when I was sick, the friend who wrote me a card filled with words of life, the person who texted me a verse that God had put on her heart that morning for me, the grandmother who stopped to teach me the ways of the Lord while she walked her everyday life, the couple who invested in my marriage, the Bible study leader who stopped by a freshman girls dorm just to say “hi,” and the brothers and sisters who prayed with me through the night when I needed a breakthrough.
You see, those “interruptions” are life giving to us. They aren’t meant to make us weary or stressed. When we walk in step with the Spirit and listen to God, we are walking in His fullness. We are most satisfied when God is glorified. Jesus made the most of every opportunity and wants that for each of us. He didn’t just wait until it was time to “clock in” to minister. He led a lifestyle of ministry in all that He did, in the day to day, because He was connected to the Vine.
Some of us may pray “God show me,” “God speak to me,” “God have Your way,” but are we ready to listen to His Spirit and take the next step toward obedience? I so desire for God to say, “Come on, daughter. Come on.” And my first response would be to grab His hand and run with Him, throwing off man-made expectations or plans, even if it doesn’t seem convenient or easy.
Walk it out (challenge and application to step out in):
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What step is God leading you to take that may be different than the plans you have? It may be something as simple as visiting a friend or may be the start of a new ministry He has for you right where you are. Maybe He wants you to talk with that neighbor who is lonely or speak of His goodness in a dim situation. What if the step He has for you to take could change the course of someone’s life? Think about that. What a privilege!
An interrupted life does not give people free reign over our lives without boundaries and does not encourage a disorderly lifestyle. It is one that allows Christ to reign over it all and yield to the Holy Spirit in each step.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Lord, establish our steps. May we be okay with the interruptions You have for us and obedient to Your leading. May we be living examples of Christ and walk the way He did in the ordinary things of life. May we point the world around us to Jesus.
Let’s encourage one another as we live interrupted, yielded lives all for God’s glory.
He is worthy! May we respond in a life that walks in a manner worthy of the calling (Ephesians 4:1-3).
Walking worthy of the calling alongside you and for His glory,
-B
