Morning Coffee With Renae

Jonah 2:5 – 6 “The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
O LORD my God.

When I was a little girl, my family and I visited some natural [...]

Jonah 2:4 “I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’”
Have you ever felt hopeless? Jonah had every reason to feel that way. Seriously. He was praying this prayer from inside a fish’s intestines. Ew.
Yet, he had hope. He said, I will look again toward your holy [...]

Jonah 2:3 “You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
Have you ever been punished for something, and you knew you deserved the punishment?
Yeah, me too. And it’s not fun.
Yet, when I think back to the times, [...]

Jonah 2:2 He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”
I’ve had some pretty distressful experiences in my life. But honestly, I think Jonah has me beat. I have never been inside the belly [...]

Jonah 2:1 “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.”
Have you ever found yourself inside the belly of a fish?
Well, I don’t mean literally. That would be highly unusual. But have you found yourself in a bad situation of your own making, and you didn’t have any idea how you were going [...]

Jonah 1:17 “But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.”
This is such a great story, isn’t it? It makes a wonderful bedtime story or children’s church lesson. But many people believe Jonah’s story is just that: a great story.

The Bible doesn’t teach [...]

Jonah 1:14 – 16 “Then they cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.’ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew [...]