Jonah 1:17, 2:1, 10

“17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

2:1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,

10. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”

The story of Jonah is very familiar to many, so much so that focus is placed on the fact If a fish could even swallow something as large as a full grown man. The unbeliever totally misses the beginning where it says “God prepared a great fish.” With God, all thing are possible. He personally prepared the fish for Jonah. That brings us to our topic for today…God prepares, just for us.
God is very deliberate. He speaks a word and expects us to follow. He is gracious enough to allow us time to come to grips with the commission given. However, when we make a choice to run from it, he has a way of manipulating circumstances to help us come around to his way of thinking. This is what happened to Jonah. It also happens to us as well.
Think about the course of your life. We may disguise our running away in terms of “I am not ready yet”, or “I am waiting for God to line everything up”, or even “I hear you Lord, but I just don’t want to do that.” When you are dealing with a true call from God, you will eventually follow the same course as Jonah, cry out to God in the midst of your fish, repent, and resign yourself to the fact that you must do the will of God. Many call this coming full circle.
My husband and I moved almost 2000 miles away from where we grew up. In preparing to leave, God gave us specific instructions. For the most part we were obedient. However, there were a few things we messed up on, knowing God said not to do them. Needless to say, it took a few years of us reaping things God did not intend for us. Eventually we came to realize we were disobedient and cried out to God in repentance. This brought us back full circle, right where God needed us to be. But God in his great grace, prepared a place just for us to help us see where our disobedience had taken us to.
Just as Jonah, the place our disobedience took us to was very uncomfortable, and cause us to suffer much loss. However, it was the perfect place for us to cry out to God, it was like hitting rock bottom, so to speak. No where to go but up. We were able to see ourselves better, and what we saw was disturbing. We saw how much we had let God down. But this point was where God needed us to be. We learned how much we needed to depend on him, and not on our own wisdom, knowledge, or strength. We repented.
Then the most wonderful thing happened, God spoke in the midst of the situation, and it had to let us go. Why? Because we were determined to do the will of God. 
Now we are walking into the things that God has for us, and not fretting about the call. Instead, we are preparing for it, and pursuing it whole heartedly. I refuse to think about all the wasted time we spent in disobedience. Rather, I embrace the plans that God has for us.
My words of comfort to you is not despise where you are right now. More than likely you are in the place God has prepared just for you. In this place you will begin to see yourself, which will lead to repentance, and hopefully a changed heart. Go through the process, victory is on the other side.
*** I hope this has blessed you. As always your comments are welcome and encouraged. God bless.