Arise & Go: When Nineveh Feels Too Close to Home…
Sometimes the hardest place God calls us to go isn’t across the world—it’s across our own family…
We started our new Fall Series, Jonah: Arise & Go, complete with weekly challenges for all of us! One of our Orangewood family members recently shared their Arise & Go challenge. The card they drew was simple: Call or text a friend you haven’t heard from in a while.
But as you’ll read below, God had something much deeper in mind.
Here is their story, shared anonymously in their own words:
“Through most of the sermon, I kept hearing, ‘Your Dad is Nineveh.’ And I REALLY didn’t want to hear that.
I even tried to imagine who else God might want Nineveh to be for me. But again and again I heard ‘Your Dad is Nineveh.’ I’ve heard this voiceless voice before and recognize the Spirit’s prompting, as usually it’s both bitter and sweet. Like, usually 95% bitter. But that 5% of sweet truth is hard to run from and has always cost me experiencing the presence of God when I resist.
Anyway, after church, I texted my dad and asked to meet. We hadn’t really spoken in a while, as his hurtful words had cut me deep to the core. I didn’t want to extend my mercy, let alone God’s mercy. Sometimes I’ve thought life would be so much easier if he just passed away in his sleep. I know that’s messed up, but it’s how I feel with our history.
But again, I’ve learned the hard way that running from the Spirit has very real consequences.
So I went to ‘Nineveh’ and we talked.
What I was most shocked by was that God unmistakably had gone before me. He had already been working in my dad. Things that I didn’t even know to ask or hope for.
Our story isn’t close to being completed. There’s no bow on the top. No current Hallmark Christmas movie ending. Maybe there won’t be … and maybe that’s okay.
But God did certainly prove to me that healing was possible. In my dad. And in me.
And regardless of the huge unknown ahead, I have peace about it. I almost had forgotten what that peace felt like … It’s been such a long time, I didn’t even recognize it at first.
And it all makes me wonder.
Maybe God wasn’t just sending Jonah to Nineveh. Maybe in a way, God was also bringing Nineveh to Jonah.
Maybe Jonah needed to experience God’s power and glory and mercy just as much.
I’m only sharing so that you might share with others who might need to hear the same thing.
Some of us would GLADLY prefer to be sent to actual Nineveh skinning tongue spiking terrorists THAN our own family members.
This story reminds us that not every “Nineveh” is far away. Sometimes it’s right in our own family. But God’s mercy is big enough, His power is strong enough, and His peace is real enough to meet us there.
✦ Thank you to this member for courageously sharing so that others might be encouraged to face their own Nineveh with trust in God’s mercy.
How is your challenge going? Encourage others by sharing a story with us at orangewood.org/story