Faces in the Fire

How did we all end up here?? All these families and faces thrown together in such a small space. Some faces are slack with the lack of caring anymore. Some faces are tight with worry and fear. Some faces are full of self-pity, anger, and disbelief. And some faces are pleasant, peaceful....cheerful. Some of us who sit in the far corner by the nurses' station entrance sit back while we are filled with chemicals and drugs and laugh, joke, share personal stories and information, share our life. The others sometimes look at us with disbelief. How can we act so happy in the a room full of needles, pain, disappointment and disease???

We can because we choose to. We are a bunch of glass-half-full kind of people. We're dealing with an awful fact and making it a cheerful inconvenience. We are walking through the fire together; facing the situation and refusing to be burned.

I would have never chosen to be thrown into this fire, but just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel, I am walking around in the furnace, believing in the Lord who loves me and refusing to be consumed by the flames. Those faces in the fire along with me also believe that the fire shapes us, molds us, takes us to a Godly place where we are not yet delivered but always safe. Don't misunderstand me...I would rather get out of the oven. But I know that the Lord has a purpose and a season and a reason for my being where I am. My clothes may be scorched, but I am oh so thankful that another day is ending and I still am not burnt.

By the way, did you know that the soldiers that actually threw the three men into the furnace in Daniel were killed by the heat of the furnace just because they got so close? Not even in the fire itself, and still it consumed them. I see so many faces like those soldiers; have know too many people just like them..
Oh ye of little faith........

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it..."
Daniel 3:17