Pre-YWAM lesson learnt in LA

I had been staying at a relative's place in LA and she asked me if i mind coming along to her church's prayer meeting as she's been absent in d last couple of wks.  I was quite interested and so decided to join them...There was a guy (David Tong, son of Stephen Tong if d name is familier to u) that shared a little before we prayed. He brought the word from the life of Jonas.

Jonas received the word from God to go to Nineveh but He ran away. He caused God to send a great wind upon the ship he boarded and the ppl on the boat ended up throwing him overboard so the raging sea would calm. Jonah was then swallowed whole by an aquatic animal for 3 days. Inside the 'fish', he still felt the presence of God such that he can still call and pray to God even though he was experiencing what can be termed as 'merciful wrath of God'. He returned to that presence of God even though he was in the 'pit'. He quoted what is parallel to psalm 18:(6)7.

At the end of the day, the story follows a pattern where God's primary purpose is still being fulfilled even though Jonah's suffering point was a process of chastisement. You see at the end of the story that Jonah was being called again by God to fulfil the original calling Jonah was given.

What amazed me was the fact that i never realised how similar this story was to what ive been living in the past 2 years. How God had called me to do this YWAM program in 2009 but under the  circumstances, i didnt follow it through enough to go then. This lead to a rollercoast of a ride.

My point of chastisement came and I paid the price for not being faithful to Him. But what I didn't realise was the fact that our Sovereign God had a better plan beyond my imagination. The past 2 years has served as my time to experience God's merciful wrath through my personal life as well as my family life. I am proud to be serving a faithful and graceful God that was with me even when I strayed out from His plans. He was the one that rescued me, restored me, mended my relationships with my family, called me to return to His plans, provided for me, and again made the way for me to join an even better, greater and more exciting YWAM program that Will allow me to literally circle the globe in 12 wks!

The lesson learnt:
Sometimes in life we go astray from God's plan. It may be due to our stubornness, fear, lack of faith, insecurities,etc, etc (the list is endless!) But His ultimate plan will always be fulfilled in His perfect timing along with His primary and secondary purposes. THE timing does sometimes depend on how long it takes us to humble ourselves in repentance and return to God for guidance. ^.^