Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Around or Through


When facing the fires of life have you ever thought if you are going through the fire or if God has provided a way around the fire?

I am currently in a Beth Moore bible study on the book of Daniel. When I began this study I never dreamt it would become so real to me. Daniel fascinates me, I have often prayed for a purpose and discipline like Daniel had when he was faced with trials and everyday life. Each week I am confronted by the Word of God and how I am living in a culture that seems to be filled with a mentality very similar to the Babylon Daniel lived it. How do I respond to a society that has a focus on staying young, looking beautiful, and being smart and successful? Is my focus on me… or is it on God and the mission field he has laid out before me?

A couple weeks ago our bible study lesson was on the fiery furnace… A couple weeks ago I was in the midst of a personal battle (or fire if you will). God had closed the door for me to work part time at the bank and I was very upset by this. I had a lot of concerns and quite frankly this was not what I had planned nor was it what I wanted – notice it was not what Larissa planned or what Larissa wanted – BUT… what was God’s plan and what did God want? I spent a lot of time asking God to remove my desires and to change my attitude and surrender my will to His. At bible study Thursday evening I shared my struggles with these special women who I have come to love so dearly, they encouraged me and prayed for discernment and faith to trust God – as we worked through the outline for the study it was all about going through the fiery furnace. When you are faced with a fiery trial there are 3 scenarios’ that can take place:

1.      God will take you around the fire – and your faith will be built

2.     God will take you through the fire - and your faith will be refined

3.     God will lead you home through the fire – and your faith will be made perfect when you enter Heaven’s Gates.

This lesson really convicted me about my attitude as I faced the ‘fire’ I was currently going through. It encouraged me to focus on trusting God and letting Him remove the bonds that held me and not to ‘smell like smoke’ (be bitter, resentful, unhappy, and angry) when I came through the fire.

Not even two weeks later God answered my prayers in a very mighty way. He opened a door I never dreamt would be opened – it hadn’t even entered my mind actually…. For years I had prayed off and on that God would open a door for me to work at a local flower shop – Floral Designs. I am not quite sure why I wanted to work there soo bad except it is owned by two women I love and respect very much and one of my best friends works there… I don’t have much experience arranging flowers but I love home décor and planning weddings so why wouldn’t it be a great job! I can never doubt that God knows the desires of my heart – without any warning God opened the perfect door for an opportunity to work at Floral Designs (part time)… I am very excited for this new opportunity and I am looking forward to working with friends and awesome spiritual examples.  I have been at Floral Designs for just over a week and I absolutely love it and often I am still amazing at how God provides and answers my prayers.

So…back to the question that I asked earlier in this loonngg post (I apologize) did I go through the fire or did God take me around the fire??? I am not sure… but I do know that my faith was built and I do believe that it was refined as I learned to trust God and lay my own desires and plans before His feet and simply allow Him to lead my way…

In foster care news – we are still waiting for our background checks to come through and we are finishing up some final paper work… Last week we met with our licensing working and she said that she has been receiving more and more finalized back ground checks back everyday so she felt that is wouldn’t be long.
 

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