Interview with Andrew Stewart-Darling, author of Life, Interrupted

A comfortable life is a myth. Interruptions will always turn up to challenge us. Some will be welcome while others will rock our world. But what if these interruptions are in fact opportunities, holy disruptions even, that God can use to enable us to make significant changes in our lives?

In his new book, Andrew Stewart-Darling combines personal stories with biblical teaching and prayers to encourage us to see interruptions as an invitation from God to draw us closer to him. Life, Interrupted helps us become more alert to nudges from the Holy Spirit in our daily lives and be better prepared for life’s next curveball.

Andrew, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am married to Emma with three amazing daughters and live in Guildford, Surrey. I have been in pastoral ministry for the best part of 28 years and privileged to see a couple of churches planted In West London and East Anglia. Alongside this, I have been working bi-vocationally in the advertising world and latterly for the last 12 years as a marketing consultant. I also mentor some extraordinary leaders across several church streams.

Why did you decide to write Life, Interrupted?

It was at the start of lockdown when I saw how the coronavirus had the power to interrupt everyone’s life–no matter who you are. It made me ask: How do I prepare for the unexpected? What is my best response? Could God use it to help change things in me?

Who have you written this book for?

I can’t think of anyone who has not had their life interrupted. That makes it relevant for everyone. However, I know some interruptions can bring terrible pain and crushing anxiety, so I thought I ‘d try to help people navigate through some of them better.

There are lots of books on living out the Christian life, what makes your book different?

It’s true, bookshelves are full of the most wonderful and inspiring literature, but I noticed so much more could be said about interruptions. I saw a small space at the end of the shelf for a book such as this one, so I thought I would write down some thoughts, look at some key scriptures and introduce readers to some simple spiritual exercises.

You talk about interruptions being invitations to change rather than a negative thing to be endured. Can you explain what you mean by this and why this is important?

It is a basic human instinct to want to carry on no matter what. It’s how most of us survive. That means any interruption gets seen as an obstacle. But the truth is, we don’t realise how much at times we need to be stopped. Otherwise, if we just go on as we are it is likely we will just dig deeper holes for ourselves. So, if we can’t stop, it will need God to help us.

When I looked in the Bible, I saw it was commonplace for ordinary men and women to be interrupted by God. I thought if we have the same Lord, maybe he might want to do the same thing with us today. So, if we can see how all interruptions can be used by God to show how much he loves us, they could hold the potential to grow our faith and see greater breakthroughs in our lives.

Can you give us an example of an interruption in your life? How did this change you?

Early on in 2020 I got very ill with Covid–something that would take me 20 months to fully recover from. I was leading a church in Suffolk and became pretty much exhausted working a constant 60-70-hour week. I had been so frantically busy that I hadn’t really rested properly since I came back from my sabbatical in 2018. Having to stop through Covid gave me the much-needed opportunity to allow the Lord to speak deeply into my life! The forced interruption of serious illness eventually led me to pass the church over to new, younger leaders the following year.

You include an ‘interrupter’ at the end of each chapter. What are these and why was it important for you to include them?

If we are to challenge our poor responses to interruptions, we are going to have to rely on more than human willpower. It will need training! And to do this we will need to learn to love the repetition of doing small simple things. These are our regular spiritual habits. This is how our minds will be renewed, and our characters transformed. So, rather than just read the book chapter after chapter, I thought I would interrupt my writing with a series of spiritual exercises to help people to pause, reflect and respond.

What would you say to someone who is currently facing a significant interruption in their life?

I would share how the Bible gives hope. If God can disrupt the darkness with light, a sadistic Pharaoh in Egypt, a prophet going the wrong way on a ship to Tarshish or a Pharisee on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians, you can be sure he is at work in your own interrupted life.

What was the most challenging element of writing this book?

Trying to make sure the writing is empathetic with people’s own difficult situations and dilemmas. It was important to me that the book’s material stayed relevant and useful to readers own experiences, so they have some ‘tools’ to be able to handle the big and small interruptions in their lives.

And what was the most rewarding element of writing this book?

Having reflected much on how any kind of interruption holds an invitation from God, there is a question I now often ask myself: “Is there enough space in my day where the Spirit of God has a chance of getting my attention?” It has become a key spiritual discipline to see how each moment of life is an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus and to live a life less ordinary.

What do you hope readers will most get out of reading this book?

I think the answer is in your question – hope! But to unpack that just a little bit more, it is to help readers change any cycle of despair and resentment into a counter cycle of hope and joy found in the uninterrupted presence of Jesus.

In one sentence, how would you describe Life, Interrupted?

Quite simply, interruptions hold an invitation from God to see change.

Is there anything we can pray for you?

The way to being alone with God will always need the companion of an interruption. Please pray this book will be a journey of interruptions for followers of Jesus to be able to draw closer to him, to know mercy, forgiveness, freedom, healing and joy.