I am in Kansas (and
sometimes Missouri) visiting my husband.
As I was driving to my hotel yesterday, I was looking at all the
perfectly manicured fields of crops. I
was thinking that we've come a long way since the days of Little House on the
Prayer when one man and a horse would plow a field. Now we have tractors with GPS designed to
make sure that farmers can get the maximum amount of usage out of their fields
as possible. The GPS directs the tractor
and the farmer gets to sit in the sometimes-air conditioned cab checking
Facebook or Pinterest (that'd be me), while the tractor practically drives itself. It is a model of efficiency. Albeit an expensive model. Any farmer will tell you that the equipment
that comes with being a "for-profit" farmer (and I use that term
fairly loosely) is quite expensive. That
got me to thinking: what would I be
willing to pay for someone to sit on high and direct my life so that I got the
maximum amount of use out of it and precious little wasted space, all my rows
would be plowed straight, and all I had to do is sit back and take
direction. It seems it'd be priceless. Then, it occurred to me: I already have it. I just forget to turn it on.
How many times, as
Christians, do we - as adopted sons and daughters, having access to all the
power given to Christ - forget to appropriate that power as we go about our
daily lives. All we have to do is go to
God in prayer. And yet…we choose to see
if we can do it on our own, and wonder why we live so much of our lives
frustrated!
Today, as I was on
my way to visit my husband, a song came on the radio I've never heard
before. It's called "Say Amen"
by a group called Finding Favour (go check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRcvcF_0_9M). There's a line in the song: Anybody here who's walked through the fire -
say Amen. It's referencing the story of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace in the book
of Daniel.
I remember when the
ladies in our church did the Precepts Bible Study by Kay Arthur on the book of
Daniel. When we did the chapter that
covered this story, my family was still in the early stages of our current ordeal
(we had not even been to trial yet).
Anyway…I remember thinking, at that time, that we were sitting in the
fire, and I was starting to feel scorched. HA! We were getting
closer to the furnace, and it was hot. That's for certain! We had
not been thrown in yet.
Then, for the first
year Rabbit was gone, I thought, for sure, that I was going to be consumed in
the flames. Surely, it was just a matter of time. But, day after
day, I got a little stronger, a little more determined, and started looking around,
noticing that I was not burning up. I was no less mad about being in the
fire, or at the insane miscarriage of justice that landed us there, but I was
not burning up. Yeah...it's hot. I've sweated plenty. But I've not
been consumed. My family has not been consumed. My husband has not
been consumed. Our spirits have not been quenched. Instead, we have
been made to see that hat Satan really wants is to destroy the family.
Our family. He hates the family. And he knows that if he can
destroy the family then he will have effectively destroyed the
church!
This whole time I've
been thinking that we've been making it because we are just too stubborn to
quit. And while I think that's partially true, it's not the whole
truth. As my mom once told me, you can break a stubborn horse. But
a strong-spirited horse will never be broken. It may appear broken for a
bit, but it is merely waiting for the chance to break free!
I've been using the
word surreal to describe how it feels to be walking through this and not feel
like I'm falling apart. That's not the right word. Supernatural is
a better word.
There are marriages
and families falling apart every day, and even more than normal amounts for
inmates. Why should it be that our family has not only NOT fallen apart,
but is easily as strong as before in most ways, and EVEN STRONGER in others if not
for divine intervention, if not for the Grace and mercy of a Heavenly Father,
and His Son standing in the fiery furnace with us?! It just doesn't
happen?! It's just not logical.
Those are just a
couple of the things that occurred to me over this last week that I thought I
would share with you.
I don't have all the
answers to my own stuff, so I could not dream of giving you answers. But what I can tell you is who does. Turn on your GPS, folks. Let God's Position System direct you in the
path you should go. Even if it means you
end up walking toward and into a fiery furnace.
As the saying goes, "If He leads you to it, He'll lead you through
it." But the best thing about God
is that He goes before you, preparing the way.
If you are in the furnace, trust that God was there before you,
beckoning to you, asking you to endure the refiner's fire, so that you can come
even closer to bearing the image of your Creator. He wants to burn off all the impurities in
you so that He can see His reflection in you!
For that kind of work, He has to be right up there, at the furnace,
turning you over and over in his hands, pulling you out, checking on you,
looking to see if all the dross has burned off yet. If not, he'll put you back. But not forever. But…hot or not, He's still there.
Anyway…that's all
I've got for today. I hope you had a
good weekend. Talk to you tomorrow!
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