THROUGH THE FIRE

Hey Ya'll! I know it's been a while but I've been going through and I know you have too. Honestly, when I'm going through I always stop doing what helps me. Do you do that? It makes no sense. Anyways, this topic has been on my heart and it was confirmed today that I need to stop procrastinating and just get it written. 

Fire. When you think of fire you subconsciously think about the dangerous characteristics. Its hot...like real hot and can be uncontrollable in some situations. We don't like it because we can't control it and that's what I think is the worst characteristic. Now, I'm sure you know where I am going with this but just keep reading. 

Have ya'll been going through the fire? What does the fire look like for you? Is it hot, constantly changing, an uncontrollable situation? There's a story in the Bible about 3 men who are thrown into a fire because of their refusal to bow to the king. So the consequence was fire. They had to enter the fire. It was a hot, uncontrollable situation. I'm sure they were terrified, but there was nothing they could do. See, sometimes we think the fire is a consequence of our actions. We think its automatically is negative and meant to destroy us. It probably is meant to destroy you. I know, not the statement you were predicting. But it's true. Fires (especially those created by humans) are probably meant to destroy you. Keep reading.

Did you know there are benefits to a fire though? Fire can cause the seeds to crack open and release pollen, which is known as germination. Fire encourages growth. You can't control the fires in your life, but you can control whether you become the ash or a new plant. The most annoying part of the fire is the process of going through it. It's the cracking before the growth, the melting before the beautiful glass mold. The process of going through can make you second guess your strength. You want to run, hide, extinguish it. However, the fire is so necessary for our growth. 

I think the part we misinterpret as people is that we somehow are supposed to not go through the fire, especially with Jesus on our side. I have yet to find a time when God said you won't have trouble. What he does say is He is with you THROUGH the fire. The 3 men were thrown into the fire and when the people went to look in they saw 4 silhouettes. GOD WAS WITH THEM IN THE FIRE. How encouraging. Doesn't that give you an extra boost of I-can-do-this? It's so nice that I don't have to go through it alone.

But lets not forget, the fire is not all about you. You never know when your fire might be the flame needed to ignite someone to life. Your cracking can be the necessary opening to a spread of hope, love, and peace. What I didn't mention about the 3 men is the king realized that their God was clearly the real deal. He made a decree which did not allow for anyone to speak against their God. Wow, through the fire, God's glory overshown ( I make up words like my dad) and could't be denied. It ended up freeing the people to speak positively about God with no repercussions. Ya'll thats huge- and that's what can happen for someone else by you going through the fire. Trust the process 

Wish me love 💕