“This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command…” (Jonah 3:3 NLT)
Our ten year-old granddaughter, Mary Kathryn, received a diary for her birthday. It was a gift from her best friend. She seemed so grown-up when she would take time to write down the events of the day.
One day Mary Kathryn mistakenly left her diary out where the other grandchildren were playing. Her young cousin, Brooke, tore out the pages that had been written on. Mary Kathryn’s heart was broken when she discovered it later. That diary was very special to her and she was sad to find the pages had been removed.
A few nights later her older sister entered her bedroom and asked what she was doing. Mary Kathryn answered, “Brooke tore out some pages in my diary that I had written on, so I will just start over.”
Those words ministered to me when I heard her speak them as I walked past her room. I thought about how many times in life we find ourselves starting over.
Dreams from our younger years get disrupted. Plans that we make go array. We find ourselves going in the opposite direction that God called us to do. Sometimes we even get to the point we don’t feel qualified to serve God because of mistakes made along the way. We have to be reminded that no one qualifies for God’s work. It is not an earned position, but by God’s grace that we are able to serve Him.
When God asks you, once again, to carry out His work, in His way, be a Jonah and this time obey His command. Cling tightly to God and do not attempt to negotiate your way out of your pain. Accept the responsibility given you. Just like Mary Kathryn began again to fill the pages of her diary and Jonah made his way to Nineveh, allow yourself to praise and thank God for giving you another opportunity to start over.
Melva Cooper