Dear Abigail,
At only 16 months old, you are determined to show us your precious personality. You give your loudest “YA” when you see others enjoying something that you want to enjoy. Your favorite thing to do is crawl up the steps and you offer the stiff-arm to anyone who tries to scoop you up. You are strong, joyful, and determined. Even though you don’t have words or steps yet, you are ever so eager to show us your voice and your path. Right now, you have the strength and will to fight for your presence to be known, but one day that strength might waver. And when that time comes, I hope to show you that there’s a Great Love that offers you a place and voice that will always be safe and secure.
Jonah was someone who desperately clung to his own voice and place. Jonah was a prophet, and his voice was meant to pass on God’s words to His beloved people. Jonah had a place & path that he treasured too, he was a Hebrew. This means he was part of a people group that God had promised to bless, and He promised to make this people a blessing to the whole world. Jonah was proud of this, and he gripped this heritage tightly. People who have studied Jonah agree that he was a patriot; he wanted to be the prophet his people loved in the country that he loved. Jonah was proud that he belonged to God’s special people, but Chapter 4 tells us that he didn’t want to share God’s blessings with others—he had forgotten that Israel was blessed to “be a blessing” to the world (Genesis 12:2).
God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, an enemy of Israel, and call them to repentance. But for Jonah, to warn Nineveh of judgement and tell them to turn to God would threaten everything Jonah held dear. It would mean befriending Israel’s enemy, and offering the blessing of God with people outside of Israel. Sinclair Ferguson wrote this about Jonah’s dilemma: “Where then would Jonah’s reputation be among his own folk? ‘Traitor Prophet’, they would call him… What Jonah found so deeply disturbing was that God was asking him to sacrifice his reputation — and for the sake of these Ninevites, these ‘Gentile dogs’ who deserved neither mercy nor grace from God or from Jonah!” (1) So, Jonah said ‘no’ to God’s call. But God went after him. He sent a storm that sent Jonah’s ship spinning on the verge of sinking, and Jonah finally had to loosen his grip on his self-determined purpose.
The sailors who were with Jonah realized that Jonah’s God had caused the storm, and they questioned Jonah. They were awestruck by this man who God was after so fervently. Verse 8 says they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” Jonah had to answer… who was he? How did he get here? How did he end up in such a disaster? “And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9).
I am a Hebrew. Bible teachers explain that the fact that he mentioned “Hebrew” as the first part of his identity is significant. Even as God’s disciplinary winds raged, Jonah seemed to cling to that heritage with all his might. He didn’t tell the sailors his occupation was a prophet, he was probably embarrassed to admit it. Everything Jonah had been living for—his success at his job, his pride in his Hebrew heritage, his sense that he was better than his enemies, was being ripped away from him. His self-determined purpose was crumbling to pieces.
Jonah explained to the sailors that in order to stop the storm, they would have to throw Jonah out of the boat, and after a long fight, they did. When they threw Jonah out, God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah and this saved him from drowning. He stayed in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
You will always have characteristics about you that will be important to you. You are a wonderful little sister, you are part of a family that loves you, and you are joyful, beautiful, and smart. These things are important and they are part of the way God made you. But sometimes the qualities and jobs we have can be inconsistent. Just like Jonah’s Hebrew heritage couldn’t save him and he wasn’t always very good at his prophet-job, you wont always feel joyful, beautiful, and smart. Sometimes you are not joyful and you shout at your sisters, and sometimes you will make mistakes that lead you to question yourself. So qualities like this are not very reliable as a purpose and identity. Let me explain.
I always wanted to be a mom. Even before I met your daddy, and even before we thought of marriage and kids. I was determined to be a good mom. I read all the parenting books, I even took parenting classes as a single woman. I clung to this identity with everything in me. And when I became a mom it was wonderful and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But even something as wonderful as being a mom is a shaky purpose to cling to. My foundation I had built, the one of having satisfaction in life as long as I was a “good mom”, cracked and shattered quickly. And when my sins of anger and impatience seeped into motherhood, I felt that my disobedience had ruined everything. My purpose, voice, and place that I had chosen was done for. Who was I? How did I end up in this disaster? Perfect motherhood is not safe or secure purpose.
Jonah’s identity had collapsed and his disobedience had caused a literal hurricane. But just when the life Jonah clung to had slipped from his grasp, God pursued him and saved him because of His love. He sent the fish to teach him a more secure identity, one based on the saving love of God. It was there that Jonah repented and realized salvation and purpose is only found in the Lord (Jonah 2:9).
Jonah’s true purpose wouldn’t be found in being a crowd-pleasing Hebrew, his purpose was to share about the truth of God’s salvation. And I think that Jesus tells us more about Jonah’s purpose in the gospel of Matthew. Matthew 12: 38-41 says, “ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth… and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
This “sign of Jonah,” Jonah’s 3 days and 3 nights in the fish, was the ‘sign’ that led Nineveh to repentance. And just as Jonah’s 3 nights and 3 days in the whale was a “sign” that led Nineveh to repentance, Jesus’s sacrifice for us on the cross, and his 3 days and 3 nights in the earth through his death and resurrection is the “sign” given to lead Israel, and us, to repentance and faith in Him.
Jonah’s life was a sign that points us the greater “sign,” the greater Jonah, Jesus, through whom all grace, pursuit, and rescue come.
Jonah fought for significance and purpose in things like the fact that he was a Hebrew, praise from others, and his comfortable ministry in Israel. These things made him feel important. But no matter what great things he was or did, the most significant thing about Jonah’s life, the thing that Jesus told others about his life, is that he was rescued by a miracle of grace that made him a “sign.” This sign was to point others to the greatest sign- and the greatest miracle- That Jesus would be crucified for our sins, spend 3 days in the heart of the earth, and rise again on the 3rd day. The greater Jonah, Jesus, won victory over our sin and secures our purpose as His beloved children.
Jonah’s voice, path, and purpose were significant because they pointed to Jesus.
We often try to look for purpose through avenues like “good” motherhood, like being a delightful little sister, like being seen and heard and known by others, like being strong and joyful and having things together. We all have our own versions of searching for our own voice and place. As I wrestle and strive in motherhood and fight for purpose, I can rest when I remember that the most significant, defining thing about me will always be that when I was hiding in my sin and blatant rebellion against God, God rescued me by a miracle of grace. When I choose the wrong priorities, when my anger and impatience and anxiety flood my motherhood, I can cling to Jesus. I was rescued by a miracle of grace, and my life is a sign that God is gracious to forgive me even in my darkest moments. Because of the cross, God’s purpose for me is secure and safe. My life is meant to point to the glorious sign, the rescuing mercy of Jesus.
One day you might feel like your voice isn’t heard or you’ve ruined your path, and on that day, I pray you would remember that God offers you a gracious rescue. If you accept and receive this, this rescue changes everything. His love offers you a safety and security and a miracle that you can never ever mess up. If you accept and believe in the gift of what Jesus did for you, on your joyful and grumpy days you will be safely kept, and your purpose will be secure in the cross of Jesus. I pray that one day this might be the path and purpose that you cling to with everything in you. There is a wide place to stand in the grace of the greater Jonah, Jesus Christ.
Nothing without Him,
Mom
Ferguson, Sinclair. Man Overboard! The Story of Jonah. (Edinburgh, UK, Banner of Truth Trust, 2018). Pg. 14
We are excited to share that Philip signed a contract with Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va starting in July of 2025! He’ll be working as an attending doctor in their Neurology, Movement Disorders department. We didn’t expect to know anything about our next (and hopefully long-term) position this early, but there are definitely some sweet things about knowing what’s ahead.
Roanoke is a beautiful railroad town in the Blue Ridge mountains on the south western side of Virginia. It has a little bit of southern charm that helps my cute South Carolina born husband feel at home, and it’s got a sweet downtown area (pictured above) set in gorgeous mountains about 3-4 hours from my family and 4 hours from his family. We feel like it’s a sweet spot for us and we are very excited! And we’ve already seen so many blessings of God’s providence in little connections with schools and churches.
We are trying not to fixate too much on the future but aiming to be thankful for our next year and a half in Charlottesville as we feel really blessed here, too. At the same time, we feel so excited to *almost* be finished with medical training and we are so proud of Philip.
“Sheep carry a mark on their wool to show to whom they belong—a sign of their shepherd. All of us here in the pasture carry a sign, too. Our baptism is the mark of our Shepherd, Jesus…
On the wonderful day that you were baptized, our pastor poured water over you as a sign of what Jesus can do in your heart. He can take your heart and our hearts that want to do wrong, and He can make them new. He can give us hearts that want to obey Him. He can give you a heart that wants a shepherd instead of wanting to be its own shepherd. Baptism is a sign that points us to Jesus and a mark that we belong to His church. On the day you were baptized, we were telling the world around us that you live in a home that follows the Good Shepherd, and we were telling you that you are not an outsider. You belong in the pasture with us.
…One day, you may decide to wander outside of this pasture and see what the grass looks like in other places, but I hope you don’t ever have to know what life is like without the Shepherd. We pray that you will grow up in wonder of our promise keeping Jesus, and you will stay because you have seen that He is good.”
— Elizabeth Harwell, The Good Shepherd’s Pasture.
Last month, these precious girls were baptized as children of God’s gracious covenant. We’re so grateful to for a church family to help lead them in the grace and knowledge of their Good Shepherd. We pray one day they would take hold of His promises in faith, and follow the Shepherd with all of their hearts.
Thank you for reading, we are grateful for you!
Warmly,
Angela Lee