God's Abounding Love – EP53 (Jonah 4:2)

Jonah 4:2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." About Seritta Seritta Nelson is blessed with not one, but two! She and her husband have twin girls, Jordynn and Joyann. These young toddlers are full of life and lots of energy. Seritta's Full Bio Moms for Christ "To really be able to love the Lord is to be able to thank Him, and be able to recognize all He has done for us." Hello everyone. This is Seritta, and welcome to the Moms for Christ podcast. Something that I've been talking to my four-year-old daughters a lot about lately is God's love. It's just been on my heart to always bring to focus and explain to them that God is love, and is good and kind. It's been on my heart because I've been seeking the Lord more and more in this way myself. To really be able to love the Lord is to be able to thank Him, and be able to recognize all He has done for us. I read to my daughters a really simple children's version of the Old Testament Bible story about the prophet Jonah being swallowed up by the big fish. My focus was that God is so good that though Jonah disobeyed, God gave him another chance to ask for forgiveness and do what God told him to do. It later went deeper into my own heart that God sent that fish to swallow Jonah so he would not just drown and die, but instead have a chance to repent and do God's will. If I wasn't willing to recognize God's infinite love, I would never see God's perspective that He is good, and always gives us a chance to repent - especially in the worst of circumstances. Even when we are the ones that have let God down like Jonah, He always gives us a chance to get to know Him more and grow closer to Him. When Jonah became upset - wallowing because God wasn't doing what Jonah thought should be done - the Scripture says in the book of Jonah 4 verse 2, “He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.’” This is what I believe. Our God is slow to anger and more than generous with His love. I recall my missed opportunities to grow in my faith and get to know God more because I wasn’t clinging to the Lord - I wasn't depending on the forgiveness He gives if I had gone on my knees in repentance, and I didn't cling to the full expectancy of God's grace. He has always been ready to point me in the right direction again. "Help our children to be confident in knowing that You know what is good." I just wanna pray for us parents to come into a deeper level of understanding how good God is. Thank You God for seeing us and knowing us. Thank You for choosing us. Thank You for being so compassionate toward us, even as parents.