{"id":12740,"date":"2026-05-03T21:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T21:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/?page_id=12740"},"modified":"2026-05-03T21:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T21:35:13","slug":"the-whales-belly-saturday-may-9-2026","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/the-whales-belly-saturday-may-9-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"The\u00a0Whale\u2019s Belly – Saturday, May 9, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another \u2013 Galatians 5:13<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGrammy, are you nervous about teaching Sunday School?\u201d Junior inquired. \u201cI was right after accepting the pastor\u2019s invitation. Junior, I felt so unqualified. And I was tempted to call the pastor up and kindly decline,” Grammy answered.\u00a0 \u201cWhat made you change your mind?\u201d \u201cThe topic I was given, to talk about Jonah and the cost that comes with freewill.\u00a0 I kept thinking about ending up being like Jonah in the whale\u2019s belly, because I had chosen to put myself there by missing out on this wonderful opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

God didn\u2019t make Jonah repent and be obedient; a whale\u2019s belly did. Neither will God make you accept this challenge.\u00a0 Are you willing to spend time in the whale\u2019s belly?<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0I was prompted by divinely inspired thoughts to reflect upon a pivotal decision and the importance of using my free will wisely. While I didn’t believe not pursuing the activity to be a form of disobedience, it would nevertheless feel as if I had positioned myself inside the belly of a whale.\u00a0 Which I perceive to be a place of stagnation, complacency, and choosing to act unwisely.<\/p>\n

Jonah is a perfect example of how a whale\u2019s belly became a tool for repentance and obedience. \u00a0I\u2019ve found that image of entrapment helpful in guiding me from the penalty of poor judgment, such as regrets.\u00a0 So today, are you in a whale\u2019s belly? \u00a0Jonah got out, and so can you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another \u2013 Galatians 5:13 \u201cGrammy, are you nervous about teaching Sunday School?\u201d Junior inquired. \u201cI was right after accepting the pastor\u2019s invitation. Junior, I felt so unqualified. And I was tempted to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The\u00a0Whale\u2019s Belly – Saturday, May 9, 2026”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12740","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12740"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12747,"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12740\/revisions\/12747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2beencouraged.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}