So funny story:
Today, I was at my favorite Dunn Brothers, killing time because I went to church, and wanted to go to the 7pm service they have once a month, as well. I didn't want to drive all the way home, so I just sat there and journaled, and had approximately 5 cups of coffee, and 5 potty breaks.
When I was getting a refill, the guys working there were talking about Nebuchadnezzar. The one asked me if I knew the story, I said kind of and that I should. I asked why they were talking about him, and he said "You know, the Matrix." Not the Nebuchadnezzar I was thinking of, which I told them. He then said, it's a biblical story too. So I asked him if he knew what happened in it, because I couldn't for the life of me remember. He said all he remembered was "it was all fire and brimstone."
Naturally, with time to kill, I googled Nebuchadnezzar. I found which chapters of the bible his story was featured in, and then went to biblegateway.com. I read it, it was the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (spellings, probably incorrect). I felt dumb for forgetting this, and kind of skimmed the story, because I remembered the essence of it. Particularly, I caught this line:
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us..." Daniel 3:17
That was that. I just felt stupid for forgetting one of those stories you learn a billion times in sunday school, - practically every other week, what kind of former-Lutheran am I?
Then, at 7pm, I went to Breakthrough. The worship service. At the end, there's this kind of open prayer time. And there were only a total of 9 of us there, including 1 sound person, 5 worship band members, and the 3 rest of us. The only guy of us audience members, so to speak, brought up the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He said it was something from his devotional this week, and that it might apply to someone else.
He talked about how they say even if God were not to save them, they would still follow His will and go into the fire, not bow to the idol.
While he was talking about it, I was half-listening, and the other half thinking about how strange it was that I looked up that story today. Some story, I should've already known, hadn't read in years, probably, and then things just lined up.
Then I thought about how much of a parallel that story was to my life this year. This year has had the most challenges I have faced yet. This year has been unbelievably difficult; threw me things I did not expect, and probably would've hid from had I known they were to come.
I faced so much fire this year, and walked through it all trying to pursue God even though more often than not, things were difficult. Less than what the guy was talking about in the men being faithful to God, for me it was more of a realization of how faithful God was to me! How when the world and people in it failed me repeatedly, God didn't; He was the only thing I had to lean on.
Now, looking at the remnants of this year, I see how faithful God has been to me. How He helped me through all that fire.
This may seem cheesy, and all too narrative and thought out, but really, it was like a revelation for me. It made all that pain seem not for waste. Not to mention trust in God's goodness, strengthened.
Simply because of king with a goofy and difficult-to-spell name.
