Another lesson

We've been out burning leaves this evening, and I can't help but find a lesson in that as well. Seems like everything that happens to me lately is for a lesson. God is opening my eyes to some very deep things. He is bringing me to His side and walking with me. We've had some great conversations these past few months.

As I watched the leaves curling and burning and turning to ash, I was thinking about how we are making way for the new grass and new growth to sprout up. We are getting rid of the remnants of Fall to make way for Spring. True, we should have done this months ago, but even now, it's not too late. And even though the ground will be charred and blackened, it won't take long for the new green grass to appear.

Perhaps this fire that we are going through is much the same way. It's burning out every bitter thing, every unprofitable and unproductive thing in our lives. Maybe it is serving to cauterize the bleeding our souls have endured the last ten years. Maybe it is sweeping away the layers of self, so that it can be replaced with the beauty that is God. I can only pray that what is left after the melting process is pure in His sight. I pray that these valuable lessons in these trials by fire are not in vain. I pray that strength will come through this adversity--and character. Didn't I pray a year or so ago for things to change? Why am I so surprised that they are? Who am I to judge God Almighty's methods of change?

I smile when I think of the Hebrew children in that furnace. They came out unscathed, with not so much as the smell of smoke on them. The fourth Man in the fire was their protector. He made a way for them. Hell's fire has no effect on the children of God. Devil, you might as well give up and get out of my way. You're going to lose that battle you're fighting with the angel that is on it's way with my miracle. It's only a matter of time. Even though I can't see the light at the end of this tunnel, that does not mean it isn't there. I feel its warmth on my spirit. I feel the love of my Father reaching down to me. And nothing you throw at me can change that or remove me from His hand. It is enough.