Finding God in the Interruptions
By Kindsi Lora
When business as usual is interrupted, we have two options—turn toward God or turn away from God. I don’t mean “turn away from God” in the ominous, walk away from your faith kind of way. I believe interruptions are God’s invitations into a deeper relationship with Him, and we can either press into that relationship or turn away from it. And there is SO MUCH to be gained by being interruptible in our walk with Jesus.
How to Embrace Divine Interruptions in Your Life
1) Know that Interruptions Are at the Core of Jesus’ Life + Ministry
One thing that I love about looking at the life and ministry of Jesus is He is extremely interruptible. The majority of the miracles in the Bible began as interruptions! Isn’t that crazy? If you look at the context of Jesus’ miracles, almost every, single one of them happens while Jesus was trying to do something else!
“And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’” (Luke 5:18-20)
Jesus was in the middle of preaching when a group of people lowered their paralyzed friend through the roof so Jesus could heal him.
When Jesus went to heal Jairus’ 12-year-old daughter who had died, Mark 5:22-43 talks about Jairus approaching Jesus as He was getting out of a boat to ask for his daughter to be healed. The woman with the issue of blood interrupted Jesus’ walk to Jairus’ house when she reached out and touched Jesus’ clothes. Jesus paused to find her and tell her she was healed and free from her suffering (Mark 5:34).
Another story you hear a lot in church is about the 10 lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17:11-19. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when the lepers called out for Him to heal them, Jesus replied telling them to show themselves to the priest. However, only one paused while following Jesus’ direction and turned back to thank God for the healing he had experienced. Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” In this story, Jesus was just walking and yet He was interruptible and available to heal the men he encountered on the way. Beyond that, the one who came back let his obedience to Jesus’ words be interrupted by praise and thanksgiving, and Jesus acknowledged his faith as part of his healing.
This is such an important reminder. Sometimes we need to pause—even in our obedience to Jesus’ direction—and let our hearts be interrupted to praise God for what He has done in our lives! To think 9/10 of those lepers were dutifully obeying Jesus’ request, but it was the ONE who let his obedience be interrupted who delighted Jesus’ heart and grew the most in relationship with Jesus that day. Let that sink in for a minute!
I pray that each one of you remembers that even when you’re walking in obedience to your calling, and diligently following what Jesus has called you to, there is an opportunity and invitation in the interruptions that will grow your relationship with Jesus more than blind obedience ever could. There is greater healing in turning back towards Jesus and allowing ourselves to be interrupted.
2) Know that Interruptions are Invitations to a Deeper Relationship
Did you know that scientific research has determined that the two key factors to a successful relationship are kindness and generosity? I am a total nerd about applying secular relationship advice to my walk with God. This one floored me! In a 2015 article published by Business Insider, Psychologists John Gottman and Robert Levenson’s “The Love Lab” is discussed. In 1986 at the University of Washington, the psychologists researched how newlywed couples interacted and then they follow up with the couples six years later to see if they were still married or if they’d gotten divorced.
There is SO MUCH in this study, but what stood out to me was that a lot of relationship success boiled down to how each person reacted to their spouses’ “bids” for connection. These bids may look like a partner asking the other to look at a meme, watch an Instagram reel, check out the sunset. One of them might say, “you have to see this, it’s hilarious!” The person receiving the bid for connection can either “turn toward” or “turn away” from the person in response.
Turning toward looks like a partner allowing themselves to be interrupted and responding to their partner. Turning away may look like someone saying, “Just send it to me, I’ll watch it later.” Or “I’m busy, stop interrupting me.”
At the six-year follow-up, Gottman found that those who had a 3/10 ratio of “turn toward” responses as newlyweds were divorced, and the lasting couples had a 9/10 “turn toward” ratio as newlyweds. Beyond that, Gottman said successful couples have a habit of “scanning social environment for things they can appreciate and say thank you for.”
Now, let’s put this into the context of being interrupted by Jesus!
When Jesus interrupts our day, it will look different most times. He might bid for our attention with the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit prompting us to do something, or He may interrupt us with something more apparent like someone in need asking for help. We have the choice of turning toward those bids and strengthening our relationship with Jesus or turning away from those bids. Every time we turn toward Jesus’ bids we grow, and every time we turn away, we distance our hearts from His request to connect!
Would you say in your day-to-day walk with God you have the 9/10 “turn toward” response that’s proven to grow a relationship? I know there are countless days when I fully ignore God or have closer to the 3/10 “turn toward” responses. One thing I’ve come to realize is Jesus’ bids for connection are often at inconvenient times when I’m on my way to do something else – just as Jesus was often interrupted on his journeys to different places.
I’d venture to say that Jesus is constantly using the things in our day as bids for connection! Some are happy moments like seeing a gorgeous sunrise, an amazing tree, meeting a new friend, or leaning into an invite to enjoy a moment—turning toward Him to say “thank you”! Some bids might come in the form of daily frustrations like getting stuck in traffic, or spilling coffee on your computer. In those moments He’s inviting us to rest in Him and surrender our frustrations.
3) Accept Interruptions as an Opportunity to be Blessed
One of my memorable God interruptions happened in 2015 when I moved to Japan for my first job. I was fully alone for the first time in my life. I was two months out of college, three weeks into being 22, and living 4,784 miles away from home. I sat in a Tokyo apartment that was not mine, waiting for my more permanent space to be available.
Sitting there on my bed, I felt extremely small and scared. I was in a country I had never been to, living in the world’s largest city, and I had no return ticket! I didn’t know the Japanese language, and was painfully aware that if I needed help, I would have no one to turn to but God.
As the hours ticked by that first night, my fears grew, and I started thinking about all the worst-case scenarios. I began researching what to do in an earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, etc. I let fear run the show. And then, close to 1:00 a.m. I felt the Holy Spirit say, “You should take a walk!”
There’s absolutely no way that was God! I thought.
It was so late, I reasoned, and I was already in my pajamas. Why on earth would God tell me to go for a walk? I was a young, foreign woman ALONE in a new city with worse language skills than a local infant, so there was no way God would ask me to do something so “unwise” I convinced myself. About 15 minutes later He repeated, “Kindsi, you need to go on a walk NOW!” This time, the words shook me to my core!
“Fine, I’ll change clothes, put on shoes and take the 15-minute walk to my train station, fill my train card and come home,” I replied out loud to my empty room.
I still wasn’t sure if this prompting was God, but I was alone, I had no one to answer to, and even if it wasn’t Jesus speaking, what did I have to lose? The second I stepped outside, the same voice in my mind said, “There’s someone you need to talk to!”
Now I KNOW this can’t be God! I thought. Who could I possibly talk to when I speak zero Japanese? About halfway to the station, I saw a foreign guy standing outside a convenience store.
No way! I thought as I got closer, That’s Kaleb. I know him!
I re-introduced myself to Kaleb, who had been one of the speakers at my job orientation the week before. It was easy to remember him because he spelled his name the same way as my brother (with a K instead of a C). He told me he had been waiting to meet up with his friends for about 30-40 minutes but they hadn’t shown up (sorry dude—I was fighting with God about my walk for 30 minutes haha). I told him some of my moving fears and frustrations and he gave me his phone number. He offered to fill out all of my Japanese paperwork so I could get my luggage. He invited me to dinner with his friends and co-workers whom he happened to be meeting the following day. Guess what all of them had in common? They were all Japanese government officials!
I walked away from that conversation absolutely floored by how present Jesus was with me in my new home.
Being interrupted by His spirit at 1:00 a.m. led me to someone who could help Tokyo feel a little less big and scary. Not only did Kaleb have the same name as my brother, but Caleb in the Bible was one of two soldiers who returned from the promised land full of faith that God would give the Israelites victory over the giants that the other 10 soldiers reported couldn’t be overcome.
By interrupting my night, Jesus rolled out a huge God-sized welcome mat for me to walk into—the season of promise He had ready and waiting for me during my time in Japan! I spent the rest of the walk home that night, turning toward God with gratitude for the way He showed up and spoke to exactly what my heart needed.
A Word of Encouragement
I encourage you to interrupt your day today and let God speak to you. Maybe this will take the form of you taking a moment to turn toward God to scan your environment for something to say “thank you” for. Maybe it’ll look like spending extra time and effort to show love to a stranger, or doing something kind for someone you live with. No matter how inconvenient the interruptions may seem, God interrupts us as an opportunity to turn our hearts towards Him and deepen our relationships with others!
