High Cost of Running

But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish [Jonah 1:3].

QUOTE: The challenge with running from God is that you will always run into HIM (Kingsley Opuwari Manuel).

I hopped on a sailboat in Belize with a six-foot blue-eyed ponytailed blond man. We planned on sailing around the world and living happily ever after together!!!

You are familiar with the story of Jonah, right? He’s the guy that was given a specific assignment by God and then did something really stupid. Instead of obeying God and doing what he was called to do, he hopped on a boat and went the totally opposite direction.

Oh yes, back to the six-foot, blue-eyed, ponytailed blond trouble. Me, like Jonah, thought it would be a good idea to hop on a boat and go totally the opposite direction that God wanted me to go. In my mind I had enough of being this goody two shoes, Christian single women, not having sex, not having fun, and I was tired of waiting on God to bring me a man. I was going to do what I wanted to do and then of course ask God to bless me afterwards!! (jeepers, reading this recipe for disaster, what was I thinking; didn’t I learn from Jonahs’s story)???

Shortly after meeting this guy, I hopped on his forty-two-foot catamaran and I started living a great life; barefoot, on a sailboat, in my bathing suit and sarong, and sailing around Belize and Guatemala. We hosted sailboat charters, so we not only lived on the boat, but we also worked on the boat. We were together twenty-four seven and we loved every single minute of this new adventure.

We prayed and read the bible together which deceived me into thinking this had to be from God. Not sure why I even thought that, because we were not married and were living together on a boat. I eventually started cooking for the guests, was the hostess with the mostess, and I loved to spoil the women that came on the boat. Because we loved this lifestyle so much, we started talking about sailing around the world. I was totally up for this and started making plans and I helped grow the sailing business so we could put money aside for this new adventure!

So, back to Jonah. Everything for him was going along great too and he thought he had escaped the call and assignment God had for him. When all of a sudden, he was caught up in a huge storm and the guys that were on the boat with him (who he paid to take him away) threw him overboard because he was the problem causing all the storms. There he is, bobbing along in the massive waves, when a great whale swallowed him up! Don’t you just love this story?!!

Well yes, things were going along great for me, too, when all of sudden a huge storm came and, in a sense, I too was thrown overboard. Things suddenly turned really scary. To make a long story short, I was on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a narcissistic sociopath which I didn’t understand at the time what was going on. Things got bad, and for the first time in my life I became beaten down emotionally by a man, and thought I was going absolutely crazy. This was right after I had lost my Angel girl (my precious doggie) and clearly was not thinking rationally or like myself. I had made decisions that I would have never normally made. But I made them, and now had to figure out how I was going to get out of this alive.

Miraculously, the darn fish that swallowed up Jonah actually saved his life and after three days spit him out on the beach. But if you remember, while he was in the belly of the fish, he was totally coherent and prayed to God and promised if he got of out this fish alive, he would do what God wanted him to do.

I don’t think I’d like being inside an icky, smelly fish, but maybe it would have been better than being terrified of someone that I knew if I didn’t get away from, would kill me. He had made enough threats, and I was surprised I was still alive. He could have at any time literally thrown me overboard and left me for fish food in the middle of the ocean.

Jonah had to pay a price for his disobedience and stupidity, but in this story, God is known as the God of second chances. He called Jonah again, meaning he reminded Jonah of the same assignment that God chose him to do. Finally, this time Jonah did as God told him to do, as promised while inside that fish.

I, too, paid a very high price. Everything this guy did was a lie and all part of his ploy to gain my trust, isolate me, and make me fall in love with him. Then he started with the games that this type of man plays. I eventually escaped from his boat and got back to Colorado. My heart was shattered, my confidence was in pieces, my life was in shambles, and I was alone again. I also was devastated and mortified that I had disobeyed God in so many ways. I, too, (like Jonah) had to face the reality that God was not going to let me out of the call or assignment he had given me either.

HIGH COST OF RUNNING FROM GOD: Yes girlfriends, thankfully we serve a God of second chances and when God has a plan, we cannot do anything to disrupt that plan. We can run all we want, hop on boats, get pounded by storms, eaten by a fish, and spit up on a beach; but we cannot change God’s mind.

We can NEVER run from the vision or purpose God has placed on our lives. However, if we do try to run, trust me, there is a very high cost of getting on that boat.

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DAILY ACTION STEP
Say to yourself out loud
I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM
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TAKEAWAY GEMS

• Think about what you are thinking about before trying to run from God.
• God’s plans are rock solid, and He will not change His mind.
• Once you have been given an assignment from God, it would be in your best interest to thank Him for this privilege and ask, what would you like me to do first?
• You can NEVER run from the plans, vision, or call that God has created you specifically for.
• God’s plans will not be thwarted by a human being.
• You will pay a very HIGH price for trying to run from God.
• THINK before you run…

QUESTIONS TO THINK ON

1. What ways may you be avoiding your God-given assignment or trying to run (or get on a boat) to get away from your God-given vision?
2. What is causing the fear or the desire to get on a boat or run?
3. How long have you heard your calling that you have been running from? What is holding you back?

WEEKLY ACTION STEP-WRITE IT DOWN: Write down what assignment, or calling God has given you. Think and pray about the next step you are going to take to be in obedience. If you need help to discover your God given vision, please join our community and connect with me.

DAILY SCRIPTURES

DAY 1:  Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. [2 John 8] 

DAY 2: Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. [Ephesians 5:6] 

DAY 3: Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” [Genesis 3:9] 

DAY 4: But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish [Jonah 1:3].

DAY 5: Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. [Jonah 2:1] ***read the rest of this chapter.  

DAY 6: I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. [Psalm 139:7-10]

DAY 7: Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good. [Titus 1:16]