Why I Thanked God for the Renewal of Fellowship Service...and a Word for the Jonahs

After an action-packed weekend, I am definitely ready to segue into lighter, turkey-related topics and such… but first, there’s something I want to say.

As Thanksgiving Day approaches and we prepare our hearts for gratitude and celebration, it is important to me to acknowledge precisely why I give God so much thanks for what happened on November 22^nd, 2015.

In the summer, I took a picture from the top of a mountain where I sometimes stop to pray for the region, as I look across the expanse of the Bay Area. I posted the picture to Facebook with the following caption. (Excuse the improper English—my grammar “takes breaks” on social media):

This was before I had any idea that my dad was in communication with the leadership at ALCF about their invitation for him to preach.

In fact, what I had actually been praying over the Bay Area was revival. And the Holy Spirit had impressed upon me: if you want to pray for revival, start by praying for reconciliation. (And I know how intercession works—if the Holy Spirit gave me that prayer assignment, I know He also gave it to scores of others across kingdom as well. Yes, if two or more agree on anything in His name and according to His will, He will do it, according to Mat 18:19 and 1 John 5:14.)

And so when it was announced that Pastor Paul would be accepting an invitation from Abundant Life Christian Fellowship to preach—six years since he’d last stepped into that pulpit after a painful and tumultuous resignation—my spirit rejoiced. God was answering that prayer. It went beyond my family, my emotions, and my soul. It came from the deep place within me that knew this was about a shift in the kingdom. God was doing a great thing—a mighty thing—something I rank up there with miracles—something that is not often seen, nor done, nor heard of. Something that made a statement about kingdom, about unity, about forgiveness, and about Christ. And He was doing it right here in our midst. Just picture what this can mean for the world as they watch an act of reconciliation in the church on a mass scale! The far reaches of such a move I cannot yet understand, but I know it exceeds what any of us could ask or imagine.

And when God answers our prayers, we owe Him thanks.

So it was for this reason that I made a choice to rejoice. And so that, “he who glories, glories in the Lord,” (1 Corinthians 1:31) let me list what were not my reasons for rejoicing.

It was not because it was a day of vindication for my father or family, because that’s not what it was about. (After all, they have already moved on both in life and in ministry, and truthfully, no child of God needs vindication from man on earth).

Nor was it for the sake of my own vanity as a bearer of their last name—while I deeply love and support my family, I am a kingdom woman before I am a Sheppard.

Nor was it because I am ignorant and unaware of the emotional pain and other significant issues that get dredged up when thousands of people are suddenly thrust back together after being traumatically separated just years prior. (I simply found intentionally dimming my own joy for the sake of acknowledging that truth to be silly, and unproductive).

Nor is it because I fail to understand the theological convictions held by some individuals who may believe that from a doctrinal perspective, Sunday shouldn’t have happened. (On that point, I simply disagree).

No, I rejoiced because all of this was about something bigger than what my daddy was doing—it was about something my Daddy was doing. (No shade, Dad. You know I sat on the front row to support you, even though at DCF I’m typically not about that front row life!)

And based on the way Sunday went, and based on the overwhelmingly amazing comments, tweets, posts, and greetings I received—I’m inclined to believe that many or maybe most of you already understand all of this, and were right there rejoicing in your spirits, too!

As I close, however, I want to share a different burden I received in a recent prayer time. And to be honest, I am not sure who my audience is for this part (though I am sure you exist, otherwise the Lord would not have spoken to me about you). So, while trying to be as least creepy as possible, and as most gentle as possible, I want to share honestly what I received in prayer:

I believe the Lord showed me that there are some Jonah’s looking and watching all the rejoicing that is taking place. You are looking down at Nineveh—a community that ignites a fire of indignation in your britches—a community, or perhaps a few communities, that you wanted to see God discipline and punish—but a community that instead has expressed repentance, and is being blessed by the Lord very publicly in return. And so, you are sitting on your hill of indignation, watching, head burning, angry about what is actually a display of God’s grace to people you may on some level, feel better than. Or perhaps feel righteously “above.” Well, God’s saying to you: Jonah, I love you! Also, get over those feelings. They are not of Me. These are my people, they have repented, and it is appropriate that I love them and show them grace. (I paraphrase. Check out Jonah chapter 4 for reference. You’ll also see that God had to teach Jonah a hard lesson before he changed his tune!)

We see in the book of Jonah that God took care of Nineveh, and God also took care of Jonah. (I am now simply recapping—not speaking in code or metaphor). Jonah disapproved of Nineveh’s sin and wanted to see them be punished. Instead, they repented, and God heard them. But Jonah sinned also, albeit in a much different way. Yet God took care of him, too. And he took care of Jonah by sending a fish. Do you realize that Jonah being swallowed by a fish, though disgusting, was actually an act of God’s mercy that preserved his life? And when Jonah acknowledged God’s hand of preservation in the sending of the fish, this acknowledgement is actually what segued into his breakthrough. When he thanked God for the fish is when God let the fish spit him back onto land, and gave him the opportunity to get it right (see Jonah chapter 2).

Now, back to how this relates to all of us. Over the last six years, many of us have, in various ways, been thrust into some stinky, smelly, less than ideal situations. But you know what? God preserved us, in one way, or another. We are all still here, faith in tact. Now is the opportunity to get our attitudes toward community right. And when you stop waiting for your breakthrough to come in the form of God “getting” the repentant people that you disagree with, and start getting it from being thankful simply for the fact that HE kept you through it all, you will experience that breakthrough, and you too will be able to “rejoice with those who rejoice,” (Romans 12:15). For it is the same grace that has kept us, that has kept you also.

And that is precisely what I invite you, what God invites you, to do. Let us do the turning we each need to do, and then choose to be grateful for the grace that's being shown to ourselves and others. Not because we agree completely on every minor thing. Not because there’s no more work to do on some of our broken relationships. Not because we are finished healing. But we rejoice because we are one body. One family. Saved by grace. Called to repent and forgive. And what God is doing, and the statement He is making, is bigger than our scruples and indignation.

God bless you, and Happy Thanksgiving!