A Whale of a Mess

This post is going to be about the second topic that I've heard repeatedly lately....actually 4 times....and it's the story of Jonah. I had just told Pappy a few days ago that I had heard the story of Jonah on several different occasions....and low and behold when I sat down to read my Sunday school lesson for this past Sunday....guess who it was about???

Yep...Jonah.

How many of you remember the story of Jonah? If you get a chance, why don't you go and read the book of Jonah...yes, I said the "book of Jonah"....after all, it only consists of 4 chapters.

But....oh, the stories we can learn from those 4 short chapters.

Here's what the Lord asks of Jonah:

Jonah 1:2 (NLT) - “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”

God simply asks Jonah to get up....go to Nineveh....and let the people there know that He was terribly unhappy with their wicked ways.

But...what did Jonah do, instead???

Jonah 1:3 (NLT) - But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.

Here's what I feel God leading me to ask:

What's your "Nineveh"?

What...or who...are you running from?

Are you running from God? Is He seeking after you and you're headed in the opposite direction? Is He asking something of you and you're turning a deaf ear....or a blind eye....and just simply refusing to heed His calling?

I have NEVER liked getting out of my comfort zone...have you? Most of us get settled into a routine....be it our home life, or our jobs, or even our church life...and we like it just the way it is. Oh, sometimes we might shake things up a little by moving our furniture around....or taking a different route to work...eating something a bit different than normal....changing our hair styles, or clothing styles, or even our hair color.

But....what I'm getting at....is....has God asked something of you....and you were just too comfortable staying right where you are....that you refused to do what He asked? I'll give you an example in my own life. Writing this blog. I was encouraged to start a blog about 2 years ago to show some of the crocheting and sewing that I had been doing...and if you go back to the very, very first of this blog....even before it was renamed Jeremiah 29:11...you'll see some of my "stuff". I was able to sell some of my stuff...but that was only because of some advertising that my daughter did for me...not due to this blog.

As I've told you all before....I was walking one Sunday morning and felt God tug at my heart to write my blog for Him. Now....for those of you who know me well....you know I'm not a writer....but once I got started....and allowed Him to just take over my thoughts and my fingers....the topics seem to keep coming up...even when it means sharing some of my own faults and short-comings...and health issues!!! I don't even understand it myself, though....how God could use me...of all people!!! And...when I feel like just calling it quits....and "closing" Jeremiah 29:11....I'll hear a sermon, or receive a word of encouragement....and realize that God wants me to continue....so until I know for sure that He is asking me to call it quits....or, He calls me home....I'll keep it up...for His glory!!!

There are certain other things that I've felt led to get involved with at church....outreach, for instance.....things that at a time in my life I would have ran from...not even considered becoming a part of!!! I am pretty much a loner....I don't like to let people in....I don't like to let anybody think that I might possibly have a fault!!! But....even that is getting easier for me....well...I'm not going to say "easier"....but I'm realizing that each and every one of us have a "skeleton in our closet" so to speak....things that we want to keep private because what will somebody think of me if I let them in on that secret. But, those times that I've felt God urging me to share....the other person really needed to hear it.....they had things they needed to share with somebody who would listen and not judge and be able to understand. I think that's been my problem with not sharing with others things about myself...that I would be judged....or, if it concerned somebody else, the other person would be judged!!!

So.....I'll ask you again....what, or who (WHO) is your Nineveh?

Are you running from something that God is asking of you?

Even more...are you running from God?

Back to Jonah....if he had just listened and obeyed God when he first asked him to go to Nineveh and talk to the people....he wouldn't have gotten himself into

"a whale of a mess".

Are you in a "whale of a mess"? Are you burdened because God is asking something of you and you're running in the opposite direction?

Remember:

If God leads you to it...He'll lead you through it!!!

Think about it....and pray about it....and see where God is leading you!!!

In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!