life interruptions...

Well, yesterday concluded our women's bible study that we started back in January at our church. It was worked out timing wise for me to go because Ben is in therapy for a few hours during this time. It gets me out of the house, a chance to hang with some ladies and also do dig into the Word.

This past study was on the book of Jonah. Who knew that only four chapters in this book could hold so much wisdom! The author/speaker, Pricilla Shirer, laid it out in a way I would have never thought of. The title of the study is Jonah, A Life Interrupted, and I will say that Ben and my life have for sure had a major interrupted! She opens the chapter with this opening onto how she thought Jonah might be thinking...

I am Jonah,
I want to serve God...
as long as it is convenient.
I desire to do His will...
until it is a tad uncomfortable.
I want to hear His Word...
as long as its message is one I'm supposed
to pass on to someone else.
I don't want to have my plans interrupted.
Oh yes, I am Jonah, and I suspect that in
one way or another, you are too!

God called Jonah to take His truth to Ninevah and that was a huge interruption in Jonah's life and what did he do...ran to Joppa to catch a ship to Tarshish. If he had gone to Ninevah it would have been a 500 mile journey but Jonah's journey took him 2,000 miles in the opposite direction! Talk about running away from God!
The biggest part about this part of the story is that she mentions that sometimes people are like Jonah and they pack up from where they are at and literally move...thinking that if they move away from what God has called them to do and leave the inturruption behind that it too will leave. Then there are others who are "inside runners." "It is far more simple and discreet to run away internally, isn't it? We head to Tarshish in our hearts so we can still pretend that we are obeying God. We can even run spiritually, going through the motions while having no fellowship with Him. We can be on the run from God's directives even while we are engrossed in them."
I will admit that I have been here a few times in my life. Going through the motions of going to church, reading my Bible and so on but in the mean time deep down I am running from what God has asked me to do. It's because I just don't want to do it and submit to His will. Even in this journey that Ben and I are on I have found myself in these places. It literally takes God putting me in the belly of a big, nasty fish for a few days...not failing to mention the stinky fishy smell of that nasty being! And yes, after God has worked on my heart I get spit out of that nasty, smelly fish and have to get myself cleaned up...in His word, asking for forgiveness and getting my life back on track in obedience to Him. I am there right now. God doesn't give us head starts either. He had Jonah "spit" right back in the place that he started! He didn't have him just spat in Ninevah but he had to go back to the place where God first asked him to be obedient.

God gave Jonah a second chance at obeying Him. I am grateful that God does the same for us...for me it has been third and fourth and fifth chances! :)
We get a great opportunity to be obedient again, we get a divine anointing at the same time and in our obedience get supernatural results. Supernatural has nothing to do with me but it is all Him! Those results may not be the results that we had in mind but they are what God has in mind for us at that exact moment! But oh how I wish I could take Him a Starbucks and bribe God a bit with some results that I want! We need to see direction from God not as bad but as a willingness to His will.

Just like God was with Jonah every step of the way on his journey so He is with Ben and I. He goes before us and prepares the way in where we are to go. "we cannot see the tapesty of divine activity behind the scenes. When we are up against a task that appears too grand for us to undertake, we must remember:
1. We are right. It most likely is too big for us to handle.
2. If God is calling us to it, He will equp us for it.
3. God has been at work in the situation long before we are scheduled to arrive, and He is preparing the way for our obedience to make a difference."

In the last chapter we see that Jonah is mad at God for sparing Ninevah after they had turned from their evil ways. He went and sat in a hot place. God grew him a plant and Jonah found shade under it. In the morning a worm ate it down and Jonah got mad to the point of just wanting to die. God spoke to him and was curious to why he was so angry and why he had more pity for a plant then he did the people he was to be ministering to. The last verse ends with God asking Jonah if He should not pity His people who don't even know their right hand from their left. We don't get to know what Jonah did after this or how he responded to what God was saying. Darn it, I don't like open ended stories!
We all want to know our endings or what our future is going to be. I want to know our next step and I have no idea what that is! Sometimes God leaves things open so that we have to trust Him and allow God to work and go before us...even if it is soooo darn hard!

There was alot more to the study and I could go on and on but these were just a few things I got from it. I end it with this though...and it hit me hard!
"If God doesn't do another thing, hasn't He already done enough?"

Just a few random photos to share...

Ben saw a commercial for toaster strudels and asked for them every time I went to the grocery store. After looking in 4 grocery stores and not finding them I was informed by my SIL that they are in the freezer section...who knew...




Diesel no longer cuddles with Ben, he just takes over his lap...




I have had dates with the tready and kettle bells...darn things! I am going to run a 5 miler in May, a 5k in June and hopefully a half over the summer...i might just die...



{not worried about looking cute, just gettin my run on}

this dog cracks me up...


been trying some new recipies...

{enchilada filling turned lettuce wraps}


{pear, gorgonzola pizza}


{fresh spring rolls and no flour, no sugar, no butter cookies! yum!}

Ben got a splint for his left foot. He has been dragging it at times and also it tends to turn in {eversion.} Ben wears it while walking and just hanging out. It has screws at the ankles so he still gets bend to it. It has been working well for him but he is having to learn to walk again with what his gait should be...




Ben had a task from his ST to practice making toast. Well since he loves his PB and J toasted (don't know why he loves pb&j and why toasted) I let him toast his bread today. He wheeled himself over, stood up, put the toast in the toaster, pushed down the button and sat back down! The only thing I did was take the bread out of the bag and stand by him incase he lost his balance! He surprised me for sure...


Ben got a massage today. I didn't. He said I can get one next week! :)


While I was watching Ben make his toast today it just reminded me that God is still working in Ben. We are blessed for sure. We are just praying that his body catch up with his brain. Although his brain still needs work he knows and remembers how to do things but just cannot physically do them how he wants to do. Please continue to pray for the continued restoration and healing to Ben's body!

It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.
Lamentations 3: 22-23