Autopilot: How God re-routed my day
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By Yvette Walker
This is an excerpt from my book of devotions, “Whispering in His Ear.” Find it on Amazon or through positivelyjoy.com.
Hello God. Sometimes I just want to scream out in my best Carrie Underwood voice, “Jesus, Take the Wheel!”
Many know the story of Jonah, who fled from God when he was told to go to Ninevah and proclaim God’s message. Jonah didn’t want to go and sailed in another direction. God sent a raging storm and Jonah ended up in the belly of a great fish.
It was as if Jonah had gone against God’s GPS navigation, and God said, “recalculating … recalculating … recalculating!”
Our lives may not be that dramatic, but God has rerouted my day a time or two for His own purposes. Recently, I had my own Jonah moment.
I planned to go to two back-to-back events. I needed to gather everything together for both events because there would not be enough time to come back home. The night before, I organized my clothing and accessories, even my makeup, and was all set. In the morning, even though I was prepared, I still was rushing a bit. I left the house and was on my way.
I looked forward to going to the first event, a women’s prayer breakfast that I regularly attended. When I’d gotten about 20 minutes away from the house, I realized that one of the bags I had packed was hanging in the laundry room. How had I forgotten this? I did a U-turn at the light and headed back home.
Jonah 2:1–2 from the NIV and NBLA (Spanish) translations:
NIV: From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”
NBLA: Entonces Jonás oró al Señor su Dios desde el vientre del pez, y dijo: En mi angustia clamé al Señor,
Y Él me respondió.
Desde el seno del Seol pedí…
