“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17 NIV

Whenever I find myself in a used bookstore, I browse every single section including the Christian books. Most of the time, I see the same books over and over at each store--the ones that have managed to become bestsellers across the country. I usually have either already read the ones available or know that they are not for me.

During a quick browse on a summer Saturday morning, a title that I had never seen before jumped out at me. 

Interrupted.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy feeling like I am in the driver’s seat when it comes to my life. The older I get the more I realize that the feeling of control that I sometimes think I have is nothing more than a temporary illusion.

The lives that we map out for ourselves are unlikely to always work out the way that we plan. We become comfortable in our plans for our lives until we become interrupted.

In Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker writes about God disrupting the plans that she had nicely laid out for her life. She was the daughter of a pastor, married to a pastor, and spending all of her extra time at the church, thinking that she was doing everything that she was “supposed” to be doing when God called her family to rely on Him as He called them to plant a new church in Texas.

While the journey she recounts is specific to her life (most of us are not going to be establishing new churches), her struggle to let go of her comfortable, complacent Christian life is thought-provoking. As she wrestles with how a church can truly be the salt and light of the earth in actions as well as in words.

Although this book was published in 2009, it feels uncannily relevant right now. It’s always important for us to keep in mind the commands “love your neighbor” and serve “the least of these.” However, our communities need us to show up in this capacity both as individuals and through the church right now more than ever.

I did not come to exactly the same conclusion as the author on every single topic listed in the book, but the core of the book encouraged reflection in areas that I needed to spend time thinking about.

The past two years have been full of change for me (and probably for you as well). The constant calibration has been difficult. There’s a time for mourning the life that I expected to continue, but there’s also a time to move on and realize that interruption can be a good thing if it shakes me out of my comfortable routine and makes me more receptive to listening to the plan that God has for me.

If you have a feeling that God is leading you to a change in your life, but you aren’t sure that you’re ready for it yet, Interrupted might be just the book you need.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth is an educator at heart. So far this has taken the form of a camp counselor, a museum assistant, and currently a middle school teacher. She loves to watch people grow and learn. You can read more of her writing at her blog Chronicles of a Southern Belle.