"The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 'Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh....' 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." So, Jonah sails. A storm comes. Sailors ask for help from their gods. Jonah comes forth as the reason and is tossed overboard (his idea), the sailors then turn to God. God sends a Fish to swallow him up for 3 days and 3 nights. Jonah prayed - the whole time he was in the Fish. The Fish spits him out. "Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: 'Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.' This time Jonah obeyed the Lord's command and went to Nineveh..." Jonah 1-3
I feel like we've been Jonah. God gave us the direction and we ran from it. When we were first told by LAM that long term ministry in Costa Rica was most likely not an option, we were heartbroken. When we were given the option to still go, but on a short term basis, I (Colleen) felt pitied. I didn't want it. I wanted long term Missions - that's what I said I signed up for. So I ran - with Josh in tow (Ethan didn't get much say lol). I think we both wanted to believe that with everything we had gone through in the last two years in our home-town ministry that God wanted something "bigger" from us than just a "measly" short-term expedition to Costa Rica. So instead of listening to God and His direction, we "sailed" away on our own to get to the long-term, putting off time that could've been spent actually doing what God direction was originally.
Now, like Jonah's running, some good has come from our running as well. While we haven't saved a fleet of sailors aboard a ship, we have started a Marriage Sunday School class to work on building our marriages up instead of tearing them down. We had a college-aged Bible Study happening every week during the summer. We have grown as a couple together and as individuals spiritually in so many ways within this last year as well.
This last weekend was our Mission Conference at church - boy do I love this weekend, I always get a good recharge and God just lays that mission desire so heavily on my heart - anyways, during Sunday's Sermon all I kept hearing from God was "Short-term". Then, as Josh and I drove home from dinner that evening, he says to me "I think I'm going to contact Erika tomorrow about getting the ball rolling with the short-term stuff." WOW! God had obviously been speaking to the both of us since my last post about if our hearts desires were in line with His. Ever since that conversation with Josh on Sunday, God has continuously brought the story of Jonah to my mind. As I sit and meditate on it and think about how God had to tell Jonah twice over to "GO!" I kept hearing Him yell "Get out of that Fish!"
Well, we finally had our meeting with Erika last night. Like, when Jonah admitted to the sailors that it was his God who was angry and it was his fault there was a storm, they threw him overboard for God to deal with him and the storm stopped. So too, it seems, our storm has stopped. The process has started up again, the ball once more rolling as we begin to make preparations and take the necessary steps to go forth on a short-term trip to Costa Rica. God has already blessed the process - we just need to abide in Him through it all.
Praying for you that you may experience all that God has desired for your life like we have been able to so far in ours.
In Christ's Love,
~Colleen :)
