Life Interruption or Divine Intervention
….In life, some moments mark the start of something new. You realize a ‘before’ and an ‘after’. You sense a shift happening; you will never be the same.
(“Adored by the God Who Sees Me: Day 5 A Life with Purpose” Bible app devotional by Kerry Clarensau and Kay Burnett)
Day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year, we are all going through some similar seasons and some very different seasons. I have started reading a Priscilla Shirer book recently about the interruptions of life and how we perceive them. There is a shift that occurs in us when we choose to see life’s interruptions as divine interventions. God has purpose in every single thing that happens to us. The good, the bad, the amazing and the absolutely horrible. He is in it with us when we are knocked to our knees by the unexpected, and more than anyone on this earth our Father God experiences the entirety of it. He knows our shock, our pain, our anger, our disgust, our disappointment, our disillusionment, our despair. But rather than let us sit and stew in it, He comes in with His love and grace and provides a peace none other can. We know He is able to carry us, we know He is working in us and through us, and yet we don’t always choose to release it to Him. I have learned in my own lifetime and through some very difficult circumstances, that when I choose to release it and ask my Father God to come and help me-He does and the weight lifts. It may not go away completely, it may linger, but it is not as overwhelming as it could be had I not chosen not to release it to Him when I did. Our lives have purpose beyond what we can imagine in our own mindset.
As I watch another year going by, and approach the end of my 40’s in a few years, I am learning that God still has a few surprises for me. He is not nearly finished with me, and there is still a great deal to be done in my time on this earth. I am finding my priorities have shifted significantly the last couple years as we attempt to keep all the plates spinning: parents who have health challenges and need our help, a husband and two of my children in college, a constantly changing and challenging schedule, and the calling and commitment to worship ministry. The last 2 years in particular, I have found great comfort and support from some amazing people in my life. You find out pretty quickly when things become difficult, who stays by you through it and is still with you well after it. When the dust settled for me after some of my most memorable life experiences, I can still see who was left standing in my life. It’s true what they say, not just about marital strife, but about relationships in general:
“It’s easy to leave, but difficult to stay.”
When life interruptions come, I choose to adjust my perception to see them as God’s divine interventions. I want to know His purpose and I choose to seek Him first, and by doing so clarity comes and God can do the full work He intended for me all along. He is good and faithful, when nobody and nothing else is. I am thankful for what God has done in my life, and what He is going to do in the days ahead. This is what I choose to testify, not anything that I could possibly accomplish on my own. Thanks be to God, how good He is!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)
