Have you ever had a season in your life when nothing goes as planned?

It seems of late my life has been filled with interruptions - generally speaking unplanned, unexpected events that have either thrown me for a loop or caused me great frustration. Perhaps you can relate?

Like being stuck in traffic when you need to get to an appointment; or repairs on the car or an appliance that suddenly stops working. Or the urgent phone call, just as you’re going to bed. Or an unexpected illness of a loved one that turns your well crafted plans on its ear. And that was just September!

I suppose one part of me would like to throw myself a pity party, and the other part of me wants desperately to see God.

I want to believe that all the interruptions to my life are not random, meaningless events but rather have been divinely placed in my path for a reason.

I want to believe that God is using these interruptions to transform me to be more like Jesus.

The other night as I turned on the television I saw commercial for a new series called A Million Little Things. I have no idea what the show is about but the title caught my imagination.

It seems to me that it won’t be a major event in our life that causes us to trust and obey God in some extraordinary way. We likely won’t be asked to build an ark or take our only child up Mount Moriah. Instead we will have an opportunity to rely on God in the million little things that happen every day. It will be in the small frustrations and interruptions in our everyday life, where we can choose to rely, obey and bring glory to God. It will be in the million little things that will cause our faith to stretch and force us to deal with questions like:

is God really in control of all the details of my life?
is God’s grace sufficient to get me through the day?
is God powerful enough to sustain and strengthen me in the midst of life’s interruptions?

It can be hard to see all the little frustrating events and interruptions in our day as divinely placed opportunities to grow in grace, but I believe they are.

And when I look at them that way it takes my eyes off me (and my pity party) and puts them squarely where they belong, on God, reminding me again God is who I need the most!