Life's Little Interruptions by Gina Conroy

 I remember the day five years ago I signed up for a Bible Study with some home schooling friends. I didn't feel like committing to another night out of the home especially since my family was already over scheduled with activities, but my husband encouraged me to go, and I knew I needed something to help me get into the Word and be accountable. I didn't know the Bible study was on hearing the voice of God.
If you've read my post about letting go which started my quest to find balance between my writing and raising my family, then you already know what happened about half way through the Bible study. Though God had been dealing with me on some level, I didn't want to believe it was His voice whispering to me about my skewed priorities. Just like what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus, God decided to knock me off my horse. Yet, instead of blinding me as He did with Saul, the scales fell from my eyes.
The topic of discussion at our Bible study that week had been sold out hunger for God. The author Pricilla Shirer shared these words.

"More and more the Lord is showing me what I consider interruptions are often divine distractions designed to reveal His plans for me."

Priscilla Shirer wrote about her young son tugging on her leg, trying to get her attention while she sat engrossed in writing the Bible study. She said, "Ignoring this interruption ignores God's attempt to move me away from my plan for my day to His."
Talk about an "ah-ha" moment! It was then that I realized I was treating my children as interruptions in my life and writing career. I had become so focused on what I thought my calling from God was that I'd been missing His divine plan for my life.
When I decided to homeschool I felt that was an interruption in my life. The time I thought I would have to write now had to be allocated to schooling. Still I was determined to make it work even if it meant staying up past midnight and "winging it" through my lessons the following day. During a quick break or at lunch, I'd steal away to the computer and get on email only to stay longer than I had planned. My three-year-old would often interrupt what I was doing, and I'd either shoo her away or get irritated at the interruption. If I lingered too long on the computer I knew chaos would erupt in the rooms below with my boys, but somehow I couldn't pull myself away in time to prevent the inevitable.
Priscilla goes on to write, "We all become frustrated when seemingly meaningless interruptions interfere with plans we have for our careers, families, finances, or ministries. Are we missing God's interventions as He seeks to divert us to His will?"
Was I missing God's intervention as He sought to divert me to His will? I thought homeschooling was an interruption in my life, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was God's divine intervention to steer me back on the path He had already designed for me.
Priscilla said, "Sometimes when our plans are interrupted, we are staring God's direction in the face. We must not push them aside to complete what we feel is most important."
Years later, even with all my children in school, my writing career on track, and my debut novella out this month, I'm still learning to hear God's voice. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that sometimes I still miss Him and get out of balance, but each day, I try to look for little interruptions and determine if maybe God’s trying to get my attention.
Gina Conroy is president and founder of Writer...Interrupted where she mentors busy writers. Knowing how difficult it is to raise a family as well as a career, she chronicles her triumphs and trials on Defying Gravity, hoping to encourage those on a similar path. She is represented by Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary, and her first novella, Buried Deception, in the Cherry Blossom Capers Collection, releases from Barbour Publishing in January 2012. Gina loves to connect with readers on Facebook and Twitter
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