Interrupted

I’ve been writing letters to my nephew who is in prison. At the Lord’s direction, I’ve been telling him my story of God’s miraculous workings in my life. He will get out soon so I needed to finish that story. I planned to write it last Tuesday night, but I was SO tired from a long day and really wanted to go to bed.

But…I knew the letter had to go out so I sat down at the keyboard around 9PM, already past my bedtime. Suddenly I was wide awake. I wrote for over an hour and was about half-way through. At 10PM I felt my sleep had been interrupted long enough.

“Lord, can I finish tomorrow?” I paused, and He nudged me to keep writing. I was unusually wide awake and words were flowing, so I continued. I finished my story and thought about my closing comments (the last page).

“Lord, now can I go to bed? I will sleep on the ending and write it first thing tomorrow morning. You know I need my sleep!” (Like the Lord doesn’t know my daily needs.) Again, wide awake, I felt compelled to keep going so I did.

I finally finished around 11:30PM, printed, signed, sealed it in the envelope, and used my last stamp.

The next morning I woke up at the usual 5AM time, despite my sleep being interrupted, and went on my daily walk/run around the apartment complex. On my last lap, I had a sudden inspiration to write him one more letter. The words I needed to write bubbled up in my mind and quickly formed sentences, then paragraphs.

I rushed in, sat down, and started to type. An hour and three pages later, I finished.

Or so I thought. Don called and I told him about it. He shared insight that fit perfectly with what I wrote, so I added it in. Now I’m finished.

I cried as I marveled at the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness.

Had I not finished the first letter that night, I would not have had time to write what the Lord revealed to me that morning. Had Don not called when he did, the letter would have been missing something.

God knew I had more to write. He also knew I needed a little bit more that only Don had.

Yes, He interrupted my sleep. He also provided all the energy I needed to have a fabulous day. And after I bought stamps, He led me to a mailbox on the way to work so the letter could go out early.

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

And the biggest marvel of all: this blessing from the Lord happened just days after I had a weekend of ignoring God and going my own way (see How Can I Be a Better Person?). 

Our God is so amazing! I hope I never lose my wonder at how faithful He is, even when we’re yucky.

Thank you, Jesus, for the grace to respond to your nudge. Thank you for giving me grace to obey when my plans were interrupted by yours.

Most of all, thank you for using me and blessing me despite all my weaknesses and imperfections.