Back to blogging!

So today I returned to the world of blogging! If you pay attention to dates, you'll notice it's been eight months since I last blogged.  It’s not that I haven’t been writing and journaling, but I just didn't feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to blog.  In a way, I approach writing as Moses approached heading out for the Promised Land. "If your Presence does not go with (me), do not send (me) up from here." (Ex. 33:15).  But lately I’ve been sensing the Spirit urging me to blog again.  So here I am...use me Lord!

In my personal study, I’m reading through the book of Jonah.  I love to do Bible studies with other women, and I just finished an excellent one by Kelly Minter called, Nehemiah, A Heart That Can Break.  (I highly recommend it!).  But between sessions, I ask God what He wants me to read and He always brings me to a portion of His Word where He desires me to be.  I love to read and meditate and pray—just me and the Holy Spirit soaking in God’s Word!  Now He’s taken me to Jonah.  And this time I’m going to blog my way through and share what the Holy Spirit reveals.  Please know that this will not be a deeply comprehensive look at the book of Jonah!  I am simply going to write about where I sense the Spirit leading me and what He allows me to share with others. 

God told Jonah: “Get up and go…”

Jonah’s response?  “But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord…hoping to escape from the Lord.”  Jonah  1:2,3 (paraphrased)

For several weeks I sensed God asking me to blog again.  I struggle against this because it’s so public.  I prefer to stay hidden away.  So I run away into my world of excuses.  I don’t have any training in writing.  Who will read it?  Who even cares what I write?  I can’t splash our lives onto public pages for all to read—that’s not fair to my family.  And besides, am I even hearing God correctly?

Then I heard a reference to the story of Jonah—about being obedient to where God wants us to go— and I heard the Spirit’s quiet voice telling me to pay attention.  I sensed God was using that story to call me back to the computer.  But, instead of just accepting that this was a word from God, I asked Him to bring the story of Jonah to me again…as confirmation that this really was from Him.  I don’t typically throw a fleece before the Lord like this, but this time I did.  I didn’t hear anything for a week or two, then suddenly within two days the story of Jonah was mentioned to me twice.  When I heard the first reference, I thought to myself, “Well, this doesn’t really count since it’s been more than a week since I asked God for that sign.”  (I’m shameless in my excuse-making).  But when He brought another Jonah story to me just two days later (from my cousin in the grocery store, no less), I knew I had my confirmation!  I almost saw God grinning at me right there in Hy-Vee…

So back to blogging.  We’ll see where this ship takes us!