When God writes our story...

"When God writes our story, he doesn't promise us that all the chapters will be easy. The good news is that if we let God write our story, when those bad chapters come, the hope we have is that in the last chapter, he promises us that he will make sense of all those other chapters."
-Love at Last Sight

Ive recently finished my 'Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted' Bible study and I must say...it def moved me, sparked something inside and has helped me grow sooo much!!! It was as if Priscilla Shirer wrote the whole study just for me. No joke. It blows my mind to think how God used each and every single day of the study to show me things that COMPLETELY related to my life. (I would love to tell you about it more in detail if you'd like to know, so feel free to just ask:) but for now here's the jist of it all) I, like Jonah, had these 'Ninevites', things&ppl that (in all honesty) I didnt 'care about', at least not in the way Jesus would have wanted me to. things&ppl that I just "wasnt going to go there" I said I cared and wanted to care, but really had no desire inside  to 'help' my 'Ninevites'. Anyway, God was obviously calling me to these things and I, like Jonah, did not respond obediently. BUT God is God and wanted this done so He did it. And He gave me..'a life interrupted'. He took things, ppl and situations and turned and chaged them in ways that I would have NEVVEERR agreed to. Without my cooperation, obviously. And I have been soo hurt and confused by it all. But now I am sooo sooo grateful that He works with and without our cooperation, when things need to be done!! I see the outcome (just even this shortly after) of it and I am so thankful that He sometimes will say 'ok, well wether you like it or not, here's how is gonna be'...anyway, so: 

*I had my 'Ninevites' (and Im sure we ALL have them..I just didnt know what mine were/looked like until this study)

*and I disobeyed. (even knowing what TO DO and not doing it, is sinning)

*And I had my world, like Jonahs, flipped upside down.

But when I FINALLY learned to jump in and flow w/God's current instead of trying sooo hard to swim upstream, I started to SEE what God was doing. Things have happend in the past year that Im not proud of, not exactly happy about, or not sure I can ever forget. BUT my God has had a plan in it all along (I MEAN, HE DREW MY ROADMAP!:) and now at the end of this 'season' of my life I can honestly say Ive came out of it a better friend, a more loving person, seeing things clearer, having a stronger relationship with my Savior than I ever thought possible, and having produced (through my Savior) some pretty awesome fruits of the spirit that I had just THOUGHT I had before!! I got to experience REAL joy and peace!!! (The kind that, Ive learned, can ONLY come from trials and pain and suffering...from being in the dark where nothing should point to happiness or peace coming from it, but being so full and peaceful and happy on the inside!) AND this 'season' has also helped/blessed my 'Ninevites'!! You have no idea how awesome this is for me, to be excited and happy for these things that I didnt once even care about! Over the course of this season God has given me a heart for them, a desire to see my 'Ninevites' blessed helped and changed for the better...and to finally SEE it happen...amazing. And so, while this quote isnt just about relationships or any specific area of your life, it is for me. Right now. It is the statement of what God has done for me very recently. (Not just for me, but IN me) This next quote was from a study one night that I reworded and Ive posted it before, but I found it relevant to post again.

"Look at the great lengths God took to preserve Jonah and

give him opportunity to participate in His purposes:

-He hurled a wind and a STORM so fierce they almost destroyed the ship (v.4)

-He gave the sailors NO OTHER OPTION but to toss Jonah overboard (v.15)

-Then God prepared a fish that would come by at just

the right time to swallow him whole

TO KEEP HIM FROM DROWNING"

-I wasnt in the sea. But God def sent a STORM.

-He didnt just 'almost destroy a ship', but a relationSHIP.

(that wasnt just him destroying..it was bc of my sin)

-I didnt get thrown overboard, but I had
NO OTHER OPTION but to get tossed aside...

-God didnt send a fish, but He came through at
JUST THE RIGHT TIME.

I am soooo thankful for all that God is and all He has done in me and my life!!!! I do not know where I'd be without Him and His amazing LOVE!!!!