Sitting in the Pit

Photo Credit: She Reads Truth

(Read Jonah 2)

Author A.W. Tozer says, "In every generation, the people who have found God have been those who have come to the end of themselves. Recognizing their hopelessness, they have been ready to throw themselves on the mercy and grace of a forgiving God."

I am not one who seeks out trouble or thrills. I definitely do not look for tough times and trials. I prefer an even keeled life without falling into the pits and the darkness. But from my own experiences, it is in the pit - in the desert - in the darkness - that I experience God more intimately than I do from the safety and security of the easy days.

I have a feeling Jonah may have had second thoughts about urging the sailors to hurl him into the sea if he had known on the boat that he would end up in the belly of a fish. But had Jonah remained on the boat, he would have missed out on God's incredible display of mercy and grace! Once inside the fish, Jonah had some time to think and reflect about what he had just experienced - about what the Lord had just done for him - the rebel prophet. And for the first time since this story began, Jonah prayed to God.

What I find so fascinating about Jonah's prayer is that he was not asking for deliverance from the inside of the fish, which, if I'm honest, would probably be the very first thing I would have bellowed out to God! He was not begging for help or even asking why. Instead, Jonah was praising God and thanking Him for rescuing him from certain death - even if his rescue could still result in his death.

Jonah realized this: "Death is not the worst-case scenario; life without God is" (Kaitlin Wernet).

Let that sit for a minute.

Jonah had taken off as soon as he realized that God was asking him to do something he absolutely did not want to do - go to Nineveh and call out their sins against the Lord. And yet, here he sat, in the belly of the fish that the Lord had appointed, gratefully thanking God. Jonah had called out to the Lord, and not only did the Lord hear his prayer, but He answered him (v.2). "Jonah had done nothing to deserve being rescued; his salvation was by grace alone (ESV text note).

Jonah had not confessed or repented of his selfish actions. He was not interceding on behalf of the pagan sailors or the people in Nineveh. He does admit that "Salvation belongs to the Lord" (v.9), but he has yet to extend these thoughts beyond himself. He still did not understand that God's desire was not only to have grace and mercy on Jonah - or those Jonah deemed worthy of God's grace and mercy. God's desire then and now is that all people would turn to Him and away from the sin in their lives. He wants ALL people - to the ends of the earth - to know and confess that He is the One True God - that we would all recognize, even from the depths of despair, that life with Jesus is better than life without Jesus.

God chose to give Jonah mercy - not giving Jonah what he deserved. And God chose to give Jonah grace - giving him forgiveness that Jonah did not deserve and could never deserve. He had chosen Jonah to speak in Nineveh, and He was willing to extend His hand of mercy to Jonah to show His faithfulness and kindness. And sometimes we end up in the darkness of a figurative fish belly before we can fully see the magnitude of the Lord's graciousness.

I am learning to be thankful for the fact that God does not lay before me a timeline of crisis for me to study because I know I would attempt to steer my life around those moments, staying safe, but missing the blessing of God's grace and His presence in the midst of the moment.

That's the thing about God - He brings us to those places that we would never choose to go ourselves. He challenges us and stretches us to see beyond ourselves. He brings us to the places where we have to make tough choices - where we either lean on our own strength, or finally tap into His.

Our Exquisite Honor

image credit: Kid Shot

This morning, as I sat down to pray, in my still dark and quiet house, I began to hurt for those in my heart who are hurting today. My heart broke for the mama whose six year old daughter will find out today if she is facing cancer for the third time - and they already know that the third time means terminal. My heart ached for my friends who are struggling with infertility - and putting their bodies through extreme measures in order to fulfill the deep seeded desires of their hearts. My heart hurt for my friends who have been waiting for more than 18 months to meet the little boy who God has given them to complete their family. I am overwhelmed by the relationships and marriages that are under attack - and there seems to be hopelessness instead of hopefulness. I feel that everywhere I look, there is sickness - in babies and husbands and grandmas and grandpas and friends. I am filled with the memories of loss as friends are waking up this morning with an emptiness that yesterday had been occupied by life and now the burden of death is weighing heavy upon them. I was once again arrested by the very real certainty of just how finite our lives are.

We are guaranteed very little in this life. But we are guaranteed to experience hardships, pain, and death. And in my experience, we are never fully prepared for any of these.

But our Lord Jesus is prepared. He too experienced hardships and pain and death - and He has conquered them all by living a life without sin, dying the death of a sinner, and then was raised back to life, defeating sin and death forever. And it is in this - and only this - that we can have hope in the midst of our realities of hardships and pain and death.

Anytime I have the opportunity to pray for someone else, I find it to be an exquisite honor. Sometimes I am joining them in their prayers. Sometimes I am lifting them up in my prayers. Sometimes I am interceding on their behalf, because they no longer have the strength to pray.

My attitude toward prayer was forever changed by these words I read several years ago.

Interceding for others in not only our responsibility, but also our exquisite honor...

it builds community as it divinely attaches you to those for whom you are praying.

~Kelly Minter~

It painful to jump in the fire with people. But this is God's design. We are meant to battle together. We are meant to hurt for others. We are meant to be divinely attached to those we are praying for. The Apostle Paul writes to the Romans, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:5). 

When we pray for others, we have the opportunity to stand in the gap between them and God. We pray the words they can no longer utter. We pray for them, and our prayers are heard. He hears our prayers. He is listening even if there is silence.

We may not always understand what God is doing (I rarely do). We may not have fancy words to say (I rarely do). We may feel like we are not doing enough. But friends, this is what God impressed upon me this morning. We don't need to understand in order to encourage. We don't need fancy words to pray on someone's behalf. We don't need to do much to make a difference. We just need to go to God - to lean on Him - to trust in His faithfulness - to allow His peace and comfort and goodness to surround those who are facing hardships and pain and death.

The Lord tells us in Psalm 46, "Be still, and know that I am God" (46:10)

He tells us in Isaiah that "they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength..." (Isaiah 40:31)

We are reminded in Deuteronomy and again in Joshua to "be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread...for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6; Joshua 1:5-9).

Jump in and do life with others. You'll get singed. But you'll never be alone. You will face hardships. You will suffer the pains of this world. You will experience death. But you will never be alone.  

If you are praying for someone, let them know. Tell them. Give them encouragement and hope.

***It must be noted that as I was writing I received a text saying the MRI was CLEAR of any cancer. There is power in prayer. There is power in interceding for others. Who needs you to pray for them?*** 

***It must also be noted that as I wrote these words, another friend texted me, asking for prayer for her friend's mother who was passing away. And only moments later she informed me that this precious life was now with Jesus. He still heard our prayers. But this life He healed in eternity.*** 

Do You Believe in Miracles? - Part One

**This post was originally published on January 14, 2010.
**Updated on October 31, 2016.

Meet my Baby Catherine. She has been one miracle after another, and I can no longer hold out on you. Her story is too amazing not to share. Watch and see how God's hand has been on this little girl since the very beginning.

This will be long, so I will post over a few days.

Miracle Number One:
Getting Pregnant

I have a condition known as Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). As is obvious in the title of my condition, there are many cysts on my ovaries. Getting pregnant with my first daughter required me taking some drugs, keeping track of my Basil Body Temperature, and prayer. I was all set for the same regiment this time, but God had a much different plan for me.

If you look back between November 2008 and February 2009, you will see posts plagued with me explaining that I'm really sick. I had some kind of stomach condition that caused me to lose about 25 pounds. It was never diagnosed, even after a battery of tests. Needless to say, I was unable to take the pills necessary to ovulate, and I was not, for lack of better words, "in the mood."

But, after missed a period in March, I started to wonder if I might be pregnant. I was feeling almost like myself again, but could I really be "with child?"

After taking the first test, I couldn't tell if it was a positive or not. I could faintly see two lines, but I wasn't sure if I was just seeing what I wanted to see, or if I really saw a plus. So, I bought another test. This time with the words. You can't mistake those results!

Both my husband and I were floored at the results! How did this happen? And when? Between me being sick and him not feeling well when I supposedly could have ovulated, we really weren't sure how this happened, but it did, and we both we so thankful. We knew this was a blessing from the Lord.

Miracle Number Two:
A Heart Stopper

My pregnancy progressed well. I was pretty sick from about 6 weeks through 14 weeks, and then I felt great! I really didn't even feel pregnant at all. The baby was healthy and developing right on schedule. We found out at 20 weeks that we were having another girl, and although I thought I wanted a boy, I was fine with a girl (and had known that I was deep down).

This is the way it was until my 32 week appointment. My regular doctor was out of town, so I was seeing one of her colleagues. He and I were talking Explorers (ah, the 5th grade teacher in me lives on and on). All was normal until he placed the doppler heart monitor on my stomach. He found the heart beat right away, but it was skipping beats.

I heard it immediately, and could tell that he was concerned. He started talking really fast, and I was nodding. I remember him saying that he wanted me to see a specialist right away. Of course, I nodded. He didn't think there was any reason to be concerned, but obviously something was not right.

I got in the car and started crying. I was scared. I called my husband and told him what had happened. I prayed all the way home. I called my friends and my mom. We all were praying for this little life. I knew God's hand was on her, but what were we going to find out? We had just attended the funeral of my husband's cousin's little baby girl who died of a heart condition at only 64 days old. Is that what we were in for?

This was Tuesday morning.

The rest of Tuesday we spent praying and researching (my husband) and crying (me) and feeling a peace that I've only experienced a handful of times when others were praying for me. It was amazing. By that night, neither of us were worried. We knew that not only was our little girl in the Lord's hands, and always had been, but she was covered in prayer.

We went to the specialist that Thursday, and much to our relief (but not to our surprise) everything was fine. She had a condition called Fetal Premature Atrial Contractions, which in everyday people terms was described to us like this:

The reason for the “skipped beats” is Premature Arterial Contraction (PAC). The way the doctor described it was that babies in the womb receive less oxygen than we do. And this smaller amount of oxygen sometimes sends weird signals to the pacemaker and causes the chambers to pump at irregular times. This is what causes the “skips”. The doctor said they were not uncommon and extremely benign. It usually takes care of itself once the baby is born when they take their first breaths and get the full amount of oxygen.

So, as you can see, God answered our prayers in a mighty way! Not only did we get to see Catherine's heart beating away, and all four chambers looking super healthy, but we also were fortunate enough to have another ultrasound. This little girl is quite bendy. At one point she had one foot and one hand above her head while the other hand and foot were under her bottom. She then moved both feet and legs under her bottom in a very modest fashion when we were trying to confirm her "girl parts", but, she did move just enough for the confirmation to be determined! The doctor thought that she looked great, from head to toe! Another blessing.

**I'll stop here for today. The next miracle is the best one! Please share in His glory tomorrow!

A Quick Update

Hey Girls!

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still around, and getting rounder!!! I've been spending a lot of time with my almost two year old, reading books and playing babies, as well as trying to explain the new baby to her. I'm attempting to get the nursery transformed from a guest room/store all room into a baby's room; a much larger task than I had originally anticipated. In the midst of all of this, I also turned 30 (gulp...).

The real reason for my post is that I wanted to invite you to join Sarah Mae's 5:16 club as we embark on a new adventure.


We are going to be reading the book Prayer: The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah. Towards the end of September we will begin discussing the book and prayer. Click here if you are interested in joining us as we delve deeper into our own prayer lives.

Thank You

To those who have joined me in praying for my dad's surgery, thank you so much. He went into the hospital this morning at 5:45 am CST. What's amazing about this time is that I woke up right at 5:45 am. Hmm, coincidence...I think not!

My daughter and I came down with a pretty serious cold, so we stayed at my parent's house while they drove 4 hours to the Mayo Clinic. I hate that I can't be there with my mom, dad, and sister, but I know that we are better off here, quarantined, and healing. Thankfully, it's just a cold, and not a stomach issue...

Anyway, thank you. Thank you for your prayers. He was calm this morning and feeling peaceful. That kind of peace can only come from the Lord.

The doctor is pretty sure that he was able to remove all of the cancer from his body, so, as far as we know, he is now cancer free. The doctor has also said that if all goes well tonight, they may even release my dad tomorrow. Selfishly, I'm ready for some company. I mean, there's only so much an 18 month old and her mama can talk about. But, of course, I want to be sure that he's ready to come home.

I don't know you, and yet, the Lord is able to use your prayers to touch my father. Thank you all so very much. I am grateful to you.