Jonah was a prophet ...

....but he never really got it.
We have watched the Veggie tale Jonah movie enough that that gets a song going in my head!

FAST Day 9: Today our bible FEAST were verses about Jonah.
Jonah 3:1-11 and Luke 11:29-32

One of the things we talked about was our families OBEY rule:

1. obey RIGHT away
2. obey ALL the way
3.obey with a JOYFUL heart.

We discussed how Jonah had learned that he had to obey God: Right away - he did (# 1) and all the way - he did (#2) but failed to do it with JOY in his heart (#3). How often are we living the same way? We are DOING the right thing but we have the wrong motives. Like Jonah do we expect certain results when we obey then become angry if it doesn't end the way we thought it should? I fall victim to this far too often -- obeying -- just so I can say I did it? or to look good? or to get something? or because it makes me feel better?
It seems in our modern society that we far to often have everything planned then go to God for approval instead of seeking His leading in the first place. Seems to me its pretty hard to obey God if we aren't even asking for leading but instead are making our own plans.

(the kids were pretty happy to catch ME reflecting today -- so I agreed to include it )

Our move over 3 years ago now was a HUGE "OBEY" action for our family, another OBEY act was schooling extra children last year, another OBEY choice was saying yes to fostering children. There have been days when I would ask "why", days I surely DIDN'T have a joyful heart, but overall God has used all these tests of obedience to draw our family nearer to Him and be a shining light for others to see.

May you obey
ALL the way
RIGHT away
and with JOY in your heart today!!!!