Today we are joined by our sweet friend, Vickie Henderson. We met Vickie at a women’s event held in Oklahoma, early one morning seeking coffee and a quiet place to read God’s word. We pray her story will encourage you to seek God when your life feels interrupted.

To download a printable version of today’s devo click here >>>Blessed Devo Three – Vickie Henderson


Interrupted by a moment that changes everything, life feels so unfair. Suddenly, normal is just a setting on the dryer. Your own personal culture shock makes you scream, “This is not my life!” But it is.

One day I could pedal my bicycle 100 miles, and the next I struggled to walk 100 feet. For an entire year, I experienced a season of rest. Rest… something I treated like a four-letter word until that day. I juggled a demanding career as an obstetrician/gynecologist, active hobbies and a beautiful family. Thankfully, I also made time in my busy life to study God’s Word, which protected me from the devastation of my interruption.

Isaiah 56:2 (NLT) took on new meaning for me. “Blessed are all those who are careful to do this. Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days of rest and keep them from doing wrong.” Far beyond one dimensional physical healing, I recognized God was calling me into a greater healing; into a Sabbath rest that would prepare me physically, spiritually and emotionally for a new season.

The Bible is full of interruptions. One of the Hebrew definitions of Sabbath is intermission. God prepared Joseph with an intermission of a pit and a prison. He prepared Jonah with an all-expense paid trip to his destination, complete with a seaweed facial. Often the breaks in our lives and breaks in our hearts lead to a break in the action. They lead to a Sabbath rest in God’s presence.

A debilitating illness I did not choose cost me my career and my marriage but gave me the gift of rest. I wouldn’t trade it. Blessings were wrapped in the pain and heartache.

Unwrapping the blessings takes time and determination. It requires a heart of gratitude for the Lord’s sufficiency and honor for Him with our lives. We can trust Him with our tomorrows. He alone knows how the story ends. He wrote the script.

If you have lost everything, don’t leave behind what God wants you to gain. When the world sees your success, it envies your blessings of wealth, health and happiness. If the curtain falls on your fairytale life, the world sits in the audience and watches your response. When you say it is still good despite your grief, disease, loss or brokenness, the world wants what is better: your hope, joy and unshakable faith.

This is not a performance, though.

This breaking of your soul is real.

Cling to God who redeems all things.

Stand firm in your faith and let the heat of your circumstances refine it. Most of all, rest, knowing that God is in control, that He can be trusted, and that He is enough.

What has interrupted your life? Choose a Sabbath rest, and let God bless you with His presence.


Further Study: 

  1. Vickie writes, “If you have lost everything, don’t leave behind what God wants you to gain.” How does this impact your heart? Can you think of a time when everything seemed upside down. Are you able to look back now and see what God wanted you to gain?
  2. Using your Blessed Journal, jot your thoughts about this question, “How do God’s Blessings differ from what the world offers?” Then, name some blessing you receive from the Lord that the world cannot give.
  3. Read Psalm 29. What does verse 12 say the Lord will bless His people with? Spend some time praising the Lord for the blessings He offers that the world cannot.

Learn more about Vickie and biblical interruptions by joining “Intermission Summit,” a monthly video series, exclusively available by email.

Sign up on her website, www.vickiepetzhenderson.com

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