Jonah

Last night I was thinking about the Bible study I'm in right now titled Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted by Priscilla Shirer. One of the lessons teaches us that when God gives us a challenge, our lives may not only become more difficult but will also look different from the lives of those around us.

Jonah was an old-testament prophet whose peers were Obadiah, Amos, and Hosea, to name a few. God gave Jonah a task and he really didn't want to do it. Part of his reasoning was that it wasn't fair, he would rather stay where he was, where his peers were. He wanted the "normal" life, the life that matched all of those around him. Because of this, he ran away from what God wanted him to do and ended up making his life much more difficult than it had to be.

What I was thinking about last night was how often we tend to compare ourselves to one another. Unfortunately, this is such a struggle for me. Sometimes I feel so different and wonder why I can't be more like the women around me. Disciplining myself is so hard for me as is patience in general. Some of the friends I have are just so softspoken and graceful in their lives and I constantly find myself comparing my personality to theirs. One amazing friend of mine has kids the age of my kids and yet finds the time to be involved in 1500 different things as well as keep her home beautiful.

What I'm working on and what God is telling me is that He has given me this life. I'm different for a reason and for a purpose. What happens next is my choice: I can accept my personality and grow it in Christ and use it to complete the tasks He gives me OR I can try to hide like Jonah and make my life so much more difficult than it needs to be. The tasks and challenges God gives me may be difficult but I know that God will always give me the tools I need to complete them. If I run...I'm on my own. And that's just no good.