Cathy's Corner

This past week in Preschool our Bible story was on how God told Jonah to go to Nineveh but Jonah didn’t want to do what God was telling him so he high tailed it out of there and jumped on a ship. Then God sent the hurricane of all hurricanes and the ship was being tossed around like a kitten in the hands of a two year old. Then the people on board got scared and said heave ho to Jonah. If that wasn’t crazy enough a fish that would make even a fisherman’s biggest fish story look like a minnow came and swallowed Jonah up and kept him there for three days and three nights. This week we get to tell them how Jonah was sorry for running from God and how he thanked God for sending the fish to save him. God gave Jonah a second chance and with that the fish spit Jonah out. This time Jonah did what God told him to and high tailed it to Nineveh.  (This is not the NIV, New American Standard or King James Version. This is the Cathy Jones version.)  

 

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What do I believe about God?

            I believe that God spoke to Jonah and told him to go. I believe God was pursuing Jonah for refusing to do what he was told and running away.

            I believe God caused the storm and He stopped it. I believe He caused the fish to spit Jonah out.

2. What do I believe about Jonah?

            I believe Jonah heard from God and was running from Him and from what God wanted him to do. I believe Jonah went to sleep on the ship and when he was confronted with why God was causing the storm he finally confessed and admitted he was the cause of the storm and God was after him. I believe he told them to throw him overboard and the fish came and swallowed him up. I believe Jonah cried out to God because of his circumstances and because he had been cast out. He remembered the Lord.

3. How does this apply to me?

            Eight years ago I started fasting and in the beginning it was a good thing because it really did bring me closer to God. When anyone found out I had been fasting and when you lose 25 pounds someone does notice I would tell them why and just what God was teaching me. But then I started letting myself think I was doing it and my fasting became a God in my life. I let my relationship with God become second. I turned from the presence of God which means walking away from the will of God. By walking away I was not able to hear what God was saying to me and I left this church and took another position at FBC Lubbock. I was living in rebellion and I was running and I think that decision to go was completely on my own. There were too many red flags and a check in my spirit and I didn’t pay attention to them. God pursued me. My time in Lubbock was miserable and there were many storms in my life but I kept running. I believe God was behind the storms in my life. I went into depression and like Jonah I slept. I felt like I was in the pit of despair. I remembered God and I cried out and He confronted me and I finally saw where and how I had been wrong and I was sorry. I apologized for being disobedient and asked for God’s forgiveness.  I praised Him for what He taught me and thanked Him for bringing me through it. Unlike Jonah who got it in three days, it took me four and a half years.

 

Stay tuned for the rest of the story, next week.