Sometimes it's the simple message we need to hear most

I heard a speaker speak something at church that really affected my life. This speaker wasn't a pastor or a missionary to some far of land or anything special like that, he was a dad who spoke to all the AWANA kids about Jonah. Instead of just telling the normal story that all of us have known from childhood, about his running away, being swallowed by a huge fish and finally going where he was supposed to go, this speaker focused on Jonah's attitude.

As he spoke in simple words so the kids would understand, he showed us how Jonah's attitude was wrong from the beginning. He hated the Ninevites and ran the other way when God told him to preach to them. When he finally went where God told Him (after a huge reprimand) he preached, but when he was done he waited for God to completely pour out his wrath and slaughter the sinful Ninivites. When they all repented, Jonah pouted. There were several other parts where Jonah pouted at not getting what he wanted.

Well, as I listened to this, I saw similarity to myself. Recently I have been having troubles with a couple girls I work with. They gossiped about me when I wasn't there (another co-worker informed me) and treated me badly. They seemed to really hate me. I kept praying that God would please help them realize how mean they were and that He would change their hearts and improve our situation, that they would realize that I was a nice girl and treat me as a friend. But wednesday night I realized that I was wrong as well. I constantly had bitter attitudes and mean thoughts, and though I never expressed them out loud sometimes what we REALLY feel inside has ways of showing itself that we don't even notice. That night I prayed that God would change MY attitude...and today I had a WONDERFUL day at work! The tension that was laying SO heavy before is mostly gone, and things seem to be healing. I felt so alive and joyful all day!

I guess sometimes God doesn't give us what we pray for, because we aren't praying for the right things, and sometimes the simple message is the one we need to hear.