Monday, April 16, 2012

Fire

It's been some time since my last blog! In the last month I have been busy baking cakes and raising my girls! That leaves little time for much else! Ha. The last few weeks have been somewhat dramatic for various reasons. Feeling like there are fires all around me. Fires in people's lives, relationships, etc. Fires in my life, with finances, with my husband, and relatives. I don't know why I am always so surprised when such events happen. I know that life will never be easy, yet when the fires and difficult things happen, it still jars me a bit!

 Last month we had a horrible forest fire here in Colorado. Although it was caused by a controlled burn gone wrong, these fires are not uncommon to our area. Three people died and many houses lost. Our dry region is always susceptible to fire. In fact, wild fires are an essential part of the forest ecosystems.  Fires actually helps make things grow back better and stronger because it gets rid of the dead things and releases new organic matter. It causes rebirth in the land.

Similar to  natural fires, our life fires cause rebirth and growth.  In the end all of the yucky stuff that was there is now gone and turned into ashes. Regardless of how they started. I have to say some fires are started by me, by my mistakes, or my big mouth. Other fires are completely out my my control, and all I can do is endure through the flames.  It reminds me of these verse:

1 Peter 1:7
Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.

I am trying to keep the faith. I am enduring the flames.