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When God Interrupts: Finding New Life Through Unwanted Change
Our lives are constantly changing. It's hard to keep up, to keep our balance. It's hard to keep trusting in God. And it's especially difficult when the changes we're faced with are the death of a loved one, a child leaving home, an illness, a frustrated dream. Craig Barnes knows the dark side of change. As a pastor, he has counseled many Christians through tough times of transition. And he has been challenged by unwanted changes--interruptions--in his own life. At times it seems as though God has moved far, far away. But Barnes has discovered that just the opposite is during times of change and seeming abandonment, God is right at our side offering to lead us in a new direction, offering us new life. He writes, "A young widow can outlive her grief and decide her life may never be the same but is far from over. A lost job can become the beginning of a new vocation." Here is the book for all who have known disappointment, bereavement or the shattering of faith, a book all the more valuable because it promises hope without denying despair. In When God Interrupts a sensitive, insightful pastor shows us how we can be found by God in the middle of unwanted change.
160 pages, Paperback
First published February 29, 1996
38 people are currently reading
254 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 6, 2019
I rarely give a book stars, but this book hit me right where I needed it. Craig Barnes shows from his life, his pastoral experience, and from the Bible how God leads his people to a place they do not want to go so he can show them the depths of his love and sufficiency of his provision.
Once we have been abandoned by success we will begin enjoying the richness of Gods love. Once we have been abandoned by our health will we begin to live. Once we have been abandoned by our dream of family, we can enjoy and love the church. And finally, once we have been abandoned by our god, we begin to worship and enjoy the true God.
It’s is not too much to say I loved this book and I really hope you read it.
Warning: this is not a practical guide to get the idols you dream of. Go elsewhere to learn how to appear healthy wealthy and vibrant. This book is for those who are done with the lies and false promises of the world and want truth.
Once we have been abandoned by success we will begin enjoying the richness of Gods love. Once we have been abandoned by our health will we begin to live. Once we have been abandoned by our dream of family, we can enjoy and love the church. And finally, once we have been abandoned by our god, we begin to worship and enjoy the true God.
It’s is not too much to say I loved this book and I really hope you read it.
Warning: this is not a practical guide to get the idols you dream of. Go elsewhere to learn how to appear healthy wealthy and vibrant. This book is for those who are done with the lies and false promises of the world and want truth.
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February 12, 2025"Faith is what binds us to Christ when everything is gone, including our most cherished expectations of him."
September 2, 2009
Back in 1996 I started to experience a series of very disturbing "interruptions" in a life that I thought had progressed nicely up until that point. Little did I know that M. Craig Barnes had just published a book that would help me greatly in making some sense of it all. I'm glad to have found it.
Any Christian who has suffered a huge interruption in the life that he or she has expected to live will benefit from this book. Like it or not, most of us will be abandoned by many things we value in this life. Even the best things we have our only ours for a time. We stand to lose our material wealth, our health, our livelihood, people we love, and finally our very lives as such. Dealing with this grim reality requires a choice of perspective. We can devote our life's energies to trying to preserve our lives as we want, or hope, them to be. The fear of losing our self-made lives will rule our lives. Inevitably, loss will come. How will you take that loss? If the meaning you find in your life depends on your ability to keep it the way you want it, then the loss may come pretty hard. Alternatively, M. Craig Barnes presents a perspective based on Bible lessons and people's stories which can help us to see and appreciate the sum of our lives as an unearned gift from God.
Gaining this perspective requires a conversion process that goes beyond mental assent to certain doctrines or simple belief. It is when we are abandoned by things we hold most dear that the test of faith comes. Is it real, or is it mostly dependent on our having our lives the way we want them to be? Most of us will have more than one opportunity in our lives to find out. The good news is that, even if we can't have the life we wanted, God can show us a way to want the life we have. Sounds risky (and it is). But, no matter how much we have in this life, we will lose it all some day. Learning how not to worry about losing what we think we depend upon for our peace and security could be a long, uncomfortable process. But if being so focused on "saving" the kind of life we want is making us blind and ignorant to the better kind of life that God wants for us, then it is a risk worth taking. This is not to say that it's good to throw the nice things we have in life away. But I would like to be the kind of person who can lose those things when the time comes without too much regret and also use them (while I have them) to bless others in God's name. This can only happen if I truly believe that my life is the product not of my own will and struggle, but of an intimate and everlasting relationship with God.
This book is a good elaboration on what Jesus means by losing our life when we try to save it and finding it when we lose it for His sake (Matt. 16:25) and what it means to find the pearl of great value (Matt. 13:45). As Barnes says at the end of his book, "People who have a God do not need to become one". This book will help you break the habit of trying to be your own life's savior and enjoy letting God do that for you. If you read this book and want more, I would also recommend Philip Yancey's books "Disappointment With God" and "Reaching for the Invisible God". But don't pass this one up for those. I read this after Yancey's books and gained many valuable insights.
Any Christian who has suffered a huge interruption in the life that he or she has expected to live will benefit from this book. Like it or not, most of us will be abandoned by many things we value in this life. Even the best things we have our only ours for a time. We stand to lose our material wealth, our health, our livelihood, people we love, and finally our very lives as such. Dealing with this grim reality requires a choice of perspective. We can devote our life's energies to trying to preserve our lives as we want, or hope, them to be. The fear of losing our self-made lives will rule our lives. Inevitably, loss will come. How will you take that loss? If the meaning you find in your life depends on your ability to keep it the way you want it, then the loss may come pretty hard. Alternatively, M. Craig Barnes presents a perspective based on Bible lessons and people's stories which can help us to see and appreciate the sum of our lives as an unearned gift from God.
Gaining this perspective requires a conversion process that goes beyond mental assent to certain doctrines or simple belief. It is when we are abandoned by things we hold most dear that the test of faith comes. Is it real, or is it mostly dependent on our having our lives the way we want them to be? Most of us will have more than one opportunity in our lives to find out. The good news is that, even if we can't have the life we wanted, God can show us a way to want the life we have. Sounds risky (and it is). But, no matter how much we have in this life, we will lose it all some day. Learning how not to worry about losing what we think we depend upon for our peace and security could be a long, uncomfortable process. But if being so focused on "saving" the kind of life we want is making us blind and ignorant to the better kind of life that God wants for us, then it is a risk worth taking. This is not to say that it's good to throw the nice things we have in life away. But I would like to be the kind of person who can lose those things when the time comes without too much regret and also use them (while I have them) to bless others in God's name. This can only happen if I truly believe that my life is the product not of my own will and struggle, but of an intimate and everlasting relationship with God.
This book is a good elaboration on what Jesus means by losing our life when we try to save it and finding it when we lose it for His sake (Matt. 16:25) and what it means to find the pearl of great value (Matt. 13:45). As Barnes says at the end of his book, "People who have a God do not need to become one". This book will help you break the habit of trying to be your own life's savior and enjoy letting God do that for you. If you read this book and want more, I would also recommend Philip Yancey's books "Disappointment With God" and "Reaching for the Invisible God". But don't pass this one up for those. I read this after Yancey's books and gained many valuable insights.
September 30, 2007
Craig Barnes writes Christian spirituality books that lack pretension, cliches and cheesy steps to success tactics. When God Interrupts put a crack in my false understanding that the Christian life was to be happy and successful with it's honest exploration of the pain and suffering we all experience in this life. Suffering isn't good, but God is not absent in it. This book explores this seeming paradox.
July 12, 2019
“Losing hope is another way of saying we have lost our vision of the savior. . .God finds those of us who have lost not only our dreams but our lives. As long as we can see that the savior is with us, we are not lost. But if we have focused too narrowly on the dream we thought the savior would give us, then it is the dream that has become the savior and not Jesus.”
“What is it that we must honor? Is it the family, or the God who may or may not give us that family as the opportunity to honor him? God alone is the object of our worship and we can count on Jesus to save us from anything that becomes an idol in God’s place.”
“As we struggle to fearfully take God on, the promise is that we too will see his face. He does not give us the things we want. He does not give us explanations. He just gives us himself. In the church, we call that worship. And that is the purpose of life.”
I wanted to remember these excerpts from this remarkable book, written 25 years ago. Had I read it then, I’m not sure I would have understood it or liked it. I would have wanted practical answers to my problems. I would have wanted ten steps to “get through” suffering. I would have wanted to be told to work hard to get the things I wanted. Because I was good at working hard.
Now I am 48 and tired, and have lived through many disappointments and loss. I still do not like the message that God sometimes takes away our dreams to give us himself, but I am more open to receiving his mystery and purpose than I once was. I suppose I am more ready to receive him, because in the end, he is all I have.
“What is it that we must honor? Is it the family, or the God who may or may not give us that family as the opportunity to honor him? God alone is the object of our worship and we can count on Jesus to save us from anything that becomes an idol in God’s place.”
“As we struggle to fearfully take God on, the promise is that we too will see his face. He does not give us the things we want. He does not give us explanations. He just gives us himself. In the church, we call that worship. And that is the purpose of life.”
I wanted to remember these excerpts from this remarkable book, written 25 years ago. Had I read it then, I’m not sure I would have understood it or liked it. I would have wanted practical answers to my problems. I would have wanted ten steps to “get through” suffering. I would have wanted to be told to work hard to get the things I wanted. Because I was good at working hard.
Now I am 48 and tired, and have lived through many disappointments and loss. I still do not like the message that God sometimes takes away our dreams to give us himself, but I am more open to receiving his mystery and purpose than I once was. I suppose I am more ready to receive him, because in the end, he is all I have.
July 25, 2021
I never read a book continually. I am a reader that reads bits and pieces of books at the same time. However, this book has so impacted me that I sat and read half the book in a day. What I like about it is that FINALLY there is a book about things many Christian's don't deal with: disappointments in faith.
I entered Christianity believing that Jesus would be helping me make a better life. At 17 I saw Jesus as perhaps more like a magic feel good God. I was completely unprepared for what hit me. I entered ministry to find that sometimes things happened to me and others that just did not seem to make sense from a loving God. Times I felt alone and abandoned; disappointed. Most Christian books give a sweet pat on the spiritual back that just did not help me.
However this author does not sugar coat life. He has opened my eyes to thinking of difficulties in a manor that I understand. I can't wait to finish this book. I am 67 and never read a book that is so frank about topics Christian's often sugar coat. Thanks to the author....
I entered Christianity believing that Jesus would be helping me make a better life. At 17 I saw Jesus as perhaps more like a magic feel good God. I was completely unprepared for what hit me. I entered ministry to find that sometimes things happened to me and others that just did not seem to make sense from a loving God. Times I felt alone and abandoned; disappointed. Most Christian books give a sweet pat on the spiritual back that just did not help me.
However this author does not sugar coat life. He has opened my eyes to thinking of difficulties in a manor that I understand. I can't wait to finish this book. I am 67 and never read a book that is so frank about topics Christian's often sugar coat. Thanks to the author....
August 5, 2019
Unwanted change can be something to be embraced
Loved how the author weaved professional / personal examples in with views on biblical events to help the reader see how when He is the most and we are the least, God is most happy.
It is not an easy journey and many of us resist it with all effort.
I help coach job seekers (www.OJTTulsa.org) and we will recommend this read for our attendees who are Christians.
Loved how the author weaved professional / personal examples in with views on biblical events to help the reader see how when He is the most and we are the least, God is most happy.
It is not an easy journey and many of us resist it with all effort.
I help coach job seekers (www.OJTTulsa.org) and we will recommend this read for our attendees who are Christians.
December 3, 2021
I read this book in a time of change and great uncertainty following the illness and death of my business partner. While I found the structure of the book less than cohesive, I greatly enjoyed the personal illustrations and stories. Overall, I found the book comforting and helpful, but never received a comprehensive message from the book as a whole. God does not abandon you in challenging times; rather, he asks us to abandon our preconceived notions of who we think He is.
January 7, 2019
Highly recommend this read for anyone feeling challenged, disappointed, heartbroken or grieving any loss or big changes in their lives and are trying to make sense of it all. The author encourages you to look beyond your little world & own understanding to see things from a new and higher perspective. He challenges you to lift your eyes to the God who is still all-Good, Loving and Sovereign over the universe and your life- and still has plans to Prosper you and not to harm you despite all your suffering and setbacks along your journey on this earth.
February 1, 2021
"No matter how great the abandonment, how severe the loss, even if it is the loss of Jesus himself that we grieve, the message of the angel is "don't keep weeping in the tombs." Where will we find our risen hope? He has gone on ahead..."
This book will join my regular rotation.
This book will join my regular rotation.
May 9, 2018
Lots of good nuggets here. Thoughtful argument for “little C” conversion as an ongoing process in the Christian walk that comes to pass through life’s various abandonments.
January 16, 2021
I have bought this book many times whenever someone is going thru a huge challenge. No matter what the challenge the truth of this book will minister. Its excellent.
December 2, 2021
Some really good points were made, but as a whole I think it falls short as a trusted theological source.
February 26, 2017
Bought this for $0.25 at a secondhand store but was worth so much more. Well crafted writing that shows a depth of understanding of Scripture and modern living.
December 15, 2014
"Finding new life through unwanted change." The book's subtitle promises hope, and the notion of God interrupting isn't meant as blaming Him for the pain we experience. I think the idea is that God interrupts the pain and disappointment.
The introduction begins this way: "We just keep losing things: wives, husbands, friends, health, the dreams and security of the past." (p. 9) When God Interrupts calls these losses abandonment, and challenges readers to accept them as "the opportunity to discover a new life." (p. 10)
The premise is that if we'll allow it, Jesus will fill the empty places and our end, while not what we had hoped or planned, will be richer. The author calls these choices conversion – the same word we use for our initial turning to Christ.
When God Interrupts draws examples from the Bible and from the author's experiences as a pastor counselling his people. It looks at different forms of abandonment: death, disappointment, infertility, discovering our head-based religion isn't enough, business failure, illness, divorce/family rejection, and even the sense of being abandoned by God.
In each case the message is to let go of our expectations, hopes, dreams... our perceived rights. And to ask God what He wants to do with the pieces.
This is one of those books filled with quotable lines. Here are a few of my favourites:
I'm not reviewing a lot of non-fiction books anymore, but this one bears sharing. It's an encouraging book filled with examples of ordinary people who have chosen to grow closer to God when life falls apart. It's one of those "keeper" books to read again throughout one's life. A book to buy for a friend.
M. Craig Barnes is a pastor and author and was appointed President of Princeton Theological Seminary in 2013. You can find his "Faith Matters" columns at The Christian Century.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
The introduction begins this way: "We just keep losing things: wives, husbands, friends, health, the dreams and security of the past." (p. 9) When God Interrupts calls these losses abandonment, and challenges readers to accept them as "the opportunity to discover a new life." (p. 10)
The premise is that if we'll allow it, Jesus will fill the empty places and our end, while not what we had hoped or planned, will be richer. The author calls these choices conversion – the same word we use for our initial turning to Christ.
When God Interrupts draws examples from the Bible and from the author's experiences as a pastor counselling his people. It looks at different forms of abandonment: death, disappointment, infertility, discovering our head-based religion isn't enough, business failure, illness, divorce/family rejection, and even the sense of being abandoned by God.
In each case the message is to let go of our expectations, hopes, dreams... our perceived rights. And to ask God what He wants to do with the pieces.
This is one of those books filled with quotable lines. Here are a few of my favourites:
Nothing makes it harder to see God than our expectations of him. (p. 30)
The challenge to people of faith is to learn how to follow. Central to that task is giving up the expectation of knowing where we are going. (p. 53)
Walk as one who walks with a Saviour. (p. 90)
I'm not reviewing a lot of non-fiction books anymore, but this one bears sharing. It's an encouraging book filled with examples of ordinary people who have chosen to grow closer to God when life falls apart. It's one of those "keeper" books to read again throughout one's life. A book to buy for a friend.
M. Craig Barnes is a pastor and author and was appointed President of Princeton Theological Seminary in 2013. You can find his "Faith Matters" columns at The Christian Century.
[Review copy from my personal library.]
March 28, 2014
In yet another wonderful book, Craig Barnes guides the reader through the difficult reflections upon life when s*%t breaks loose - be it the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the doctor's report, or a child who is in a tailspin. He also addresses the challenge of when family members fail us or hurt us, and even the darkest questions of when we feel that God has failed us or let us down.
Through a series of personal stories from his own ministry and experience Barnes reflects upon the gift, and the power, of faith in Jesus Christ - the one who is not just a friend, or teacher - but the one who is Savior.
Some truths are hard to take at times. But even the difficult realities of our relationship with Christ are presented in ways that offer healing and hope. In the same way, we often find ourselves betrayed by friends, co-workers, and family members. The hurt can run deep. Still, Barnes presents a message with a solid foundation; a message of healing and hope for all of life's very difficult and challenging life events.
The more I read Barnes, the more I like him. This book is simply an excellent read for anyone who has struggled with hard times in life.
Through a series of personal stories from his own ministry and experience Barnes reflects upon the gift, and the power, of faith in Jesus Christ - the one who is not just a friend, or teacher - but the one who is Savior.
Some truths are hard to take at times. But even the difficult realities of our relationship with Christ are presented in ways that offer healing and hope. In the same way, we often find ourselves betrayed by friends, co-workers, and family members. The hurt can run deep. Still, Barnes presents a message with a solid foundation; a message of healing and hope for all of life's very difficult and challenging life events.
The more I read Barnes, the more I like him. This book is simply an excellent read for anyone who has struggled with hard times in life.
August 6, 2007
Craig Barnes is a Presbyterian pastor in Pittsbugh, but at the time this was written, he was at Capitol Presbyterian in D.C. (home chuch for Conde Rice among others). This is a reflection of how faith comes into play at times of unexpected crisis or change, and how those moments shape faith. It is anecdotal and very readable, and in part revolves around Rev. Barnes' own bout with cancer. It is more a pastoral life issues book than a work of theology, although it is definitely Christian in perspective.
August 22, 2007
Written by a Methodist pastor who has gone through a difficult life. It is thought provoking to think of how God uses suffering as an interuption of our life in order to draw us closer to Him. Most of the principles you learn early on are found in this book, but the stories help to bring it home. Nothing "earth-shattering" but it was a comforting book to read on a weekend trip away with the wife.
June 22, 2011
I'm re-reading this 1996 offering. Barnes has a way of zeroing in on the big questions without melodrama. I found this book profoundly helpful years ago when I was suffering through terrible hardships.
The book is a study in what it looks like to abandon our lives and follow an unpredictable God.
I recommend this book heartily.
The book is a study in what it looks like to abandon our lives and follow an unpredictable God.
I recommend this book heartily.
January 11, 2013
This book has formed my life and philosophical outlook more than anything on earth. Maybe that isn't the right way to put it. It made what I thought I knew to be wrong, and what I truly felt to be concrete. It is a wonderful and life-changing book, that I have given out at least five copies of. Please read this.
July 5, 2023
Barnes presents biblical reasons for why we sometimes go through great hardship--what he might call "interruptions." Yet God is still there though we may feel He is many miles away. It is many times the detours and seeming potholes in the road by which we sometimes learn our best and most enduring lessons. Very good book
August 15, 2007
an excellent book for when you are going thru hard times (i.e. death of someone close to you, losing a job, divorce, etc.). really helps you find meaning in it and helps you move on to what God has for you. one of jay pathak's top 5 books.
April 21, 2012
Some very good points and I especially like where this author is coming from. The only drawback is that the book says so much that it can be a bit overwhelming at times. Each chapter would have made a good book I think.
July 9, 2014
This is one of those books that gets better with each chapter. Very good and helpful insights to the inner life.
October 17, 2011
OUTSTANDING!!! A MUST for all believers!
February 11, 2013
Mr. Barnes has written an incredibly helpful book if you're searching for answers to questions about where you are in your current relationship with God.
August 18, 2014
A fantastic read. He writes so well and so eloquently. speaks to me on many levels especially after the loss of my son.
March 2, 2015
Excellent book. Really put some things in perspective for me.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews