Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT) For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

My middle daughter came downstairs just a few weeks ago with frustration all across her face. It was Saturday morning, and as I looked up from my cup of coffee to see that she was obviously bothered, I asked here what could possibly be wrong so early in the day. She started telling me that she had plans to play with her Legos, but her little sister came into her room and was interrupting those plans. In my mind I was thinking, “you better get use to life being interrupted”.

My life is pretty well planned out. I have a calendar that reminds me of appointments, meetings, and other “to-do” items. Inevitably, interruptions change my day dramatically; and while they can be frustrating, they also can be productive. We may not always see it at the beginning of the interruption, but God often uses these moments to keep us in His plan for our lives.

Take Mary, for example. Here she was in the middle of planning for her wedding and the start of her new life married to Joseph. An angel interrupted her plans with the announcement that she would soon become pregnant and have a son named Jesus. Since she was a virgin, this news was undoubtedly shocking and deeply troubling and without a doubt began to derail some of her plans. But where would we be without the virgin birth?

Saul the feared Jewish zealot who persecuted the first Christians, was on his way to Damascus to arrest more of them when he was blinded by God. This life-changing interruption had huge implications for the future of the New Testament Church and the spreading of the Gospel around the world. You just have to know that this huge interruption was something Paul was not happy about. Who would be happy with with that interruption? But were would we be without the ministry of Paul?

Jeremiah reminds us that God has a plan for our lives. Yet all too often we respond to the interruptions of our well-ordered lives with attitudes of frustration, irritation, fear, and doubt. God’s surprises in our day are full of opportunities. Do not always respond to ever interruption with disgust, it might just be His way of keeping us in His plan for our lives.