How to Respond When God Interrupts Our Routine
I enter 2016 with expectancy. How might God choose to use me in new ways? And how might He interrupt my safe and comfortable routine to accomplish His purposes?
The Christmas rush has ended. My kids have returned to their homes. The local Christian radio station has returned to its regular playlists. And I’m returning to my routine.
Comfort in routine
I find comfort in routine. Perhaps it’s because “routine” equals “known.” It brings no surprises. It throws nothing unexpected at me. It demands nothing extraordinary of me. My strength, my skills, and my smarts are sufficient.
Imagine, then, how Mary must have felt when Gabriel interrupted her routine one day.
“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” he said (Luke 1:28)
The message he delivered ripped routine’s safety net from Mary’s life and left her feeling confused and disturbed. (Luke 1:29) But not for long.
Gabriel reminded Mary that the God she served was the God of the impossible and His presence was with her. That reassurance, combined with the relationship she already enjoyed with God, gave her the courage to kiss routine goodbye and embrace a faith-adventure that she never would have chosen on her own.
We stand on the brink of a new year. What will 2016 bring? We might have hunches or hopes, but we really have no clue. Who says something similar couldn’t happen to us?
When God interrupts our comfortable routine
It’s possible that God will interrupt our comfortable routine with a call to a task that feels too big. Perhaps He’ll shake up our routine with an unexpected change of plans—a medical diagnosis, a loss, marriage, the birth of a child, or a move. He might even break our routine by challenging us to learn something new—take a course, expand our horizons.
Suddenly our strength, skills, and smarts are no longer sufficient, and we find the new prospect rather scary.
What to do?
First, remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God who interrupted Mary’s routine and invited her to participate in His eternal purposes is the same God we serve today, and He’s the God for whom nothing is impossible. Next, respond as Mary did—“I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants.”
I enter 2016 with expectancy. How might God choose to use me in new ways? And how might He interrupt my safe and comfortable routine to accomplish His purposes?
I hope you view 2016 in a similar way. Let’s share the journey together, okay?
Know you are loved,
Grace
Wow……..that’s a good one, Grace. It can seem that everything is okay and we’re back in the “routine” of things……………..when, “BAM!”, a light from heaven and an angel……………well, maybe not quite like that for most of us; but, yes, changes can come and often suddenly……………let’s hope they’re good ones. Praise the Lord!!!!!!for He is Worthy of our Praise!!!!!!
Happy New Year 2016
The interruptions God sends our way might be big in our estimation, but they’re likely small compared to Mary’s situation. Knowing who sends those interruptions in our routine ought to give us a sense of excitement and certainly peace. 🙂
thank-you. Well, I certainly have that sense of excitement, and peace.
I was lingering over the conversations we had in early Dec. and the statements you gave me, Grace, which I thought “Wow, those are for some people but not me”, because God never gives me “big” things to do. (ha)
Well, (I printed it out so I can meditate on it), in reading the three things you suggested I might consider (after a certain series of incidents in a church), I began to “see” something else. The questions to ask myself were: What did I learn as a result of being in that place? How am I a stronger person as a result of my experience? and How can God use my experience for His glory now?
As I read them, already the thoughts are coming to me, and ideas of how these can really affect my spiritual walk in Christ. I was filled with excitement and joy at what God will do out of all of this. I also felt again that God always knows what he’s doing, i.e. connecting me with you.
I feel you gave me an answer to something I’ve been looking for all my life……I feel it is a gift given to me, and now I have to gaze upon it and meditate on it and allow the Holy Spirit to show me things. I know that it’s going to be good……….I feel that God will use me to bless others.
I am so very thankful.
Absolutely, Marge–God will use you to bless others. How He chooses to do that is the big thing to which you are called 🙂 Happy New Year! May it overflow with new beginnings for you, my friend.