In the Furnace

Tomorrow's my birthday....
And more than any gift...I want a solution.
A solution to a huge problem.

I've decided not to speak of it to anyone...except for three people...two of whom were because I panicked and didn't trust God completely. Usually when I have a need, I talk of it to people, and then when the need gets met, often through the people I've mentioned it to...I feel like I orchestrated the answer...and that that wasn't really trust.

This time, in the biggest challenge my family has yet faced - I've been quiet.
I now trust, completely, that God will bring some kind of miracle, and bring the solution.
And I want to know that - and for my family to know that - the answer is ALL GOD and none of me.

I have mentioned to two people that I have a need for prayer. And I know they are praying. I will probably mention it tonight at my Bible study, without any specifics whatsoever.

Does this scare me--when everything literally rests on this solution? Yes and no.
Because my "flesh" (my natural self- apart from God) is terrified of what I know can happen so easily. I feel cowardly and would be filled with dread....IF....

.....I let myself go there.

But I'm not. Because in an equally, or probably greater way, I have confidence that my God has a hope and a plan for my family's future...One of benefit and not harm. (Jeremiah 29:11-14, I believe). And I have CHOSEN to place my confidence and faith in that. But I also have a very real sense, a sense that goes beyond my will in the matter, that God is going to provide a way out. And that there will be blessing in it for my family as well.

God gave me Psalm 34: 4-9 today in my devotions. And I knew it was Him telling me, "This is for you." It goes like this in the NLT:

I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me, freeing me from all my fears. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces. I cried out to the LORD in my suffering, and he heard me. He set me free from all my fears. For the angel of the LORD guards all who fear him, and he rescues them. Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who trust in him! Let the LORD's people show him reverence, for those who honor him will have all they need.

And then, just moments ago, I was scanning an article and a sentence was written in bold type, so it drew my eye. It said this:

“Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalm 50:15)

And I knew that was for me today too.
And I read in my devotional book, Come Away my Beloved, by Frances J Roberts an entry called
" You shall not be Earthbound" which spoke greatly in numerous places, to my points of need this morning.

These things are NOT coincidence. They are most definitely orchestrated by the hand of God. They are His voice, whispered in complete darkness, "I know. and I'm here to help."

I know that EVEN IF, the situation turns out NOT in the manner we would wish it to, that these verses will still be proven true in the paths that God leads us.

Just like the friends of Daniel said as they were being thrown into the furnace of fire,

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. Daniel 3:17-18

Even if we must go through the fire...as did these three men...I know that there will be a fourth figure walking in the midst of us...as there was with Daniel's friends. And I know that what he is doing will be much better than anything I could have arranged.