Jonah and the BIG fish...

It’s been interesting because my husband and I have been talking about why God has brought us here? What is he going to do with us? Why North Dakota? Well I think that it is beginning to become apparent as to why we are here. Since we got here we were dying to go to church . It was a part of our life that we really missed. That time together growing in God’s word and being challenged by other believers. I had been looking and asking around and really praying about where we should attend. Well, since I’ve been here the church New Hope kept coming to mind. I really wanted to try It out but I was afraid that my husband would just shoot me down. It’s hard to replace a church back home that you really like and you feel feeds you with a new church that you know nothing about. Well, I prayed about it and we talked about starting to find a place and I ran into a couple from our home church back home and the husband told me that they are going to New Hope and that they really liked it and it reminded them a lot of our church back home. So I said…Okay we are going to take that next step and go to church on Sunday! Saturday night we were over at our friend’s house. John has been really talking with his friend about God and what he is doing in his life and marriage and how a husband is suppose to treat his wife and what God would want for them as Christian men. It was really cool to hear all about that. Anyways, that night we went over to their house and we just got on the subject about our relationship with Christ and what it meant to us to be believers and what we believed. It was challenging but reassuring because I knew that God was there! Well, our friends have been here for a little over a year and have never gone to church here. His wife had only gone to church 4 times in her life! So it was really awesome to hear them say they want to go with us. It was an answer to John’s prayers too because he’s been trying to find a way to invite his friend to come with him to church. So that next day (Sunday) we all drove in the same truck to church and when we got there Pastor Mike was talking about Jonah. What an amazing book of the bible! It reminded me of my own journey here! Lol. Williston was like Nineveh in my mind. Semi trucks, drugs, outrageous crime, girls going missing, nothing to do, unbearable negative below zero weather, John working long hours, and all the other stuff you can think of. I did not want to go. But in my heart I kept hearing God saying “Go Jessica” and of course I kept saying “No God I am comfortable here and I don’t want to go to a unknown place. I’m good thanks!” Then one day I was sitting at work and all of a sudden I had peace in my heart. I finally surrendered “my” wants and desires for what God wanted me to do. What a wonderful feeling!!! That first sermon Pastor Mike gave was about just that. How Jonah was willing to die because he didn’t want to go to Nineveh and God kept telling him to Go and Jonah kept telling him No. When Jonah finally went…with the help of God and the big fish he got to see incredible things start to happen. Everything he imagined could happen, but  just the opposite actually happened. He was blessed. Then the pride crept in and he was embarrassed to go back to his home town because he told them that he was going to go there and God was going to destroy all of the people of Nineveh and instead they were all saved! Lol. Man, the power of God is incredible! Pastor Mike said a line that really made me think, “God is a god of second chances, NOT a god of short-cuts!” Isn’t that true! He really challenged us to ask ourselves where our level of God is. Are we full or are we empty? What are we doing to make our level of God full? Our level of love increases as we spend time in God’s presence. Amen to that!!!