“It’s kinda crazy up there right now,” my husband said as he walked in the door from work.
“Oh really, like what?”
“Well, their funding is falling short.”
“So, what does that mean?” I asked as I filled up a glass of water and turned to walk toward the dining room.
“Well, they can’t pay me tomorrow.”
“Can’t pay you? What do you mean they can’t pay you?”
“They said they’ll pay me next week. It’s the strangest thing. They’re falling short on their funds, so they’re not paying us until next Friday.”
“Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it’s doesn’t, but it’s probably gonna be okay by next week.”
A week turned into a month and the months turned into a year. For one solid year, we never knew when we were going to get paid or if we were going to get paid.
It was brutal.
But seven years later I can look back on that year as the first brick in a growing spiritual foundation. I think of how much security I put into a paycheck.
“But, what if it is gone tomorrow? Then, what will I trust in?”
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in mere man”. Psalm 118:8
Our financial trials did not cease that year . . . or the next . . . or the next. No, they continued for years. And do you know what I felt in those years?
Fire.
Not just a scorching heat fire but a refiner’s fire. The kind that blazes out pride and self-reliance. The kind of fire God sends removes things that have no purpose. The kind of fire that shapes you into who God wants you to be.
At times it can be scorching hot.
But I learned that my trust had to be in Him. Nothing else. What good is it if I trust in money? What good is it if I trust in a job? A boss? A raise? Is that where I put my trust? No. I had to learn to trust God and God alone.
Oh, how I wanted out of my situation. I wanted to wake up the next day and be free from it all. Sometimes, I’d wake up only to discover the heat had been turned up a few more degrees. I had to hang on, wait for Him to work, and believe He would not leave me in my situation. I had to find promises in the Bible and cling to them—knowing He would come to my rescue.
Are you like me? Are you going into the fire? In the midst of it? Coming out of it? Do you long to see a change in your situation, whether it be in your marriage, in your finances, or in your children? Then do this. Let the fire burn away what the Lord wants removed. Don’t fight it. Press in. Yield to it.
Because I can promise you this: You will emerge a different person. God will mold and shape new things in you. And while you are there, always remember Who is in the fire with you—the Lord Himself. He was in the fire with me, and brothers and sisters, He is in the fire with you.
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:2
“Oh really, like what?”
“Well, their funding is falling short.”
“So, what does that mean?” I asked as I filled up a glass of water and turned to walk toward the dining room.
“Well, they can’t pay me tomorrow.”
“Can’t pay you? What do you mean they can’t pay you?”
“They said they’ll pay me next week. It’s the strangest thing. They’re falling short on their funds, so they’re not paying us until next Friday.”
“Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it’s doesn’t, but it’s probably gonna be okay by next week.”
A week turned into a month and the months turned into a year. For one solid year, we never knew when we were going to get paid or if we were going to get paid.
It was brutal.
But seven years later I can look back on that year as the first brick in a growing spiritual foundation. I think of how much security I put into a paycheck.
“But, what if it is gone tomorrow? Then, what will I trust in?”
“It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in mere man”. Psalm 118:8
Our financial trials did not cease that year . . . or the next . . . or the next. No, they continued for years. And do you know what I felt in those years?
Fire.
Not just a scorching heat fire but a refiner’s fire. The kind that blazes out pride and self-reliance. The kind of fire God sends removes things that have no purpose. The kind of fire that shapes you into who God wants you to be.
At times it can be scorching hot.
But I learned that my trust had to be in Him. Nothing else. What good is it if I trust in money? What good is it if I trust in a job? A boss? A raise? Is that where I put my trust? No. I had to learn to trust God and God alone.
Oh, how I wanted out of my situation. I wanted to wake up the next day and be free from it all. Sometimes, I’d wake up only to discover the heat had been turned up a few more degrees. I had to hang on, wait for Him to work, and believe He would not leave me in my situation. I had to find promises in the Bible and cling to them—knowing He would come to my rescue.
Are you like me? Are you going into the fire? In the midst of it? Coming out of it? Do you long to see a change in your situation, whether it be in your marriage, in your finances, or in your children? Then do this. Let the fire burn away what the Lord wants removed. Don’t fight it. Press in. Yield to it.
Because I can promise you this: You will emerge a different person. God will mold and shape new things in you. And while you are there, always remember Who is in the fire with you—the Lord Himself. He was in the fire with me, and brothers and sisters, He is in the fire with you.
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:2
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