Not Burned in the Fire

Not long after my husband passed away, I was talking to my sister one day, and she told me she woke up startled because she had a dream that I and my kids were in one of our previous homes, and it was on fire. 

She hurriedly came in the house warning us one by one. First she came to one of my kids and said, "You have to get out!" And that child told her, "The house isn't on fire." This happened when she came upon my second child as well. 

Then, she came to me and said, "You've got to get out!" And I told her, like the kids did, "The house isn't on fire." Every time one of us told her there wasn't any fire, the fire would disappear as we spoke. 

My heart smiled. How comforting is God. Isaiah the prophet delivered a love letter to Israel on God's behalf: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you..." (43:2). The first part of this verse was proven out through my posts Deep Waters - Part 1 and Deep Waters - Part 2: The Ending No One Wanted. And my sister's dream was God confirming the second part, as the kids and the kids and I were in the middle of grieving and walking out our new normal. 


My hope for this post is that you put yourself inside this dream and hear the heart of God through these verses. God is jealous for you (Deut 4:24) and fiercely protective. He can consume things surrounding you as needed without you being burned, like in Daniel 3:22: "Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was extremely hot, the flame of the fire killed the men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. ...Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire (vs 26)...their hair was not singed, their clothes were not scorched or damaged, even the smell of smoke was not on them" (vs 27). Wow.

When you go through things under the grace of God, you may come out in a noticeably different way than those who don't walk with him on the day to day.  This isn't to say that those who are struggling aren't under grace. Sometimes, we only see where someone is in life (including ourselves) but don't see where they could be if they weren't under grace. I personally believes he holds all of us in ways we don't even realize. My statement of coming out differently also isn't to empower an "us versus them" mentality. It's just to say that grace by definition includes favor and sweetness: "...[G]reat grace was upon them all" (Act 4:33). There is a love relationship when you're in covenant with him, and he's serious about protecting you and holding you. He's father, mother, friend, and lover. And he longs for this with every person, and constantly pursues to woo.


My sister's dream only confirmed what I already knew: God was holding us, surrounding us, protecting us, hemming us in on all sides. And he had a plan. He was laying to rest former things that didn't serve his purposes in this time while also acutely preserving what should be. I have prayed that whoever reads this will be encouraged by this testimony and personally know that God is a consuming fire, protecting and surrounding, jealous for you. If this is you, you can ask Jesus to meet you where you are and surrender your life to him as a way back to authentic and unbroken relationship with God. Everyone who has ever met the real Jesus - not a made up Jesus - was genuinely changed. And as we continue to get to know who he is even after the honeymoon, that relationship only gets sweeter and the change within goes deeper and deeper. He invites you on this journey (Romans 10:9).

Blessings, 🔥 🔥 🔥

Jenny


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