Big Fish

James loves fish. Just about every other day he tells me "I catch a fish!" even though he hasn't. But I love his little boy imagination and his desire to conquer (and impress his Mama) and catch fish, and birds, and sharks (and other creatures that I pretend that I'm not scared of...) So, the other day when we read the story of Jonah in his Storybook Bible he listened intently and it was so sweet to hear him recall details back to us of the "big fish" that swallowed Jonah.

Right now I am reading What Women Fear by Angie Smith. I am currently reading a chapter that addresses our desire to control circumstances out of fear. This really hits home for me as I struggle with wanting to be in control, and it has never been more apparent than now as I am right in the middle of a season of life that it is so very evident just how little control that I actually have. Oh, I might have thought I was in control at times in my life or tried to control, but if I ever was unsure of who was actually in control of the circumstances of my life I know with certainty now that I never really was.

I love Angie Smith's perspective on Jonah and wanted to share an excerpt here in hopes it encourages you like it did me:

I never had a flannel board as a child, but if I had, I imagine the fish would have been seen as the antagonist in the story. I picture him angry and out for blood as he gobbles up poor Jonah. It took me many years (and still no flannel board) to see what God was really saying in this story.

He provided the fish.

Not to harm Jonah, but to rescue him. 

He knew Jonah's heart, so He did something drastic, something epic, something that to the naked eye looks like a tragedy, and He used it for His glory. The words of Jonah are profound in their earnest simplicity: So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.' ... I want the story to be different, and lest I am tempted to believe I deserve an explanation, I remind myself that He who allowed the vine to wither was the same One Who grew it into being and brought it to life in the first place. And when the sun burns my eyes and the wind whips me into a place of doubt, I have committed to return to a place of worship. A place where it is too dark to see anything but Him...'Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple Lord...' ... I will believe in spite of the vine that I cannot control.