Four days before the 4th of July, there were some big storms that knocked our power out. At 7 p.m. on a Friday in the middle of the summer our power went out and we did not get it back on until the following Wednesday morning. Night one was like a little adventure getting to sleep in the cool basement. The next morning we woke up a little surprised the power had not come back, but we just found things to do outside of our smoldering home for the day. Night two was a little less adventuresome and more annoying. By night three, I really could not believe we still didn’t have power and I was just praying for it to kick on any minute. Night four ended with a bit of a meltdown because I was physically and emotionally exhausted and let me tell you that sitting in an 80 degree house does not make anything better.
I woke up on the 4th of July still annoyed that we were without power, but before I got up from the air mattress we were sleeping on in our basement, I prayed that the Holy Spirit would fill me. That He would help me handle my frustration and trust His plan. I acknowledged that God was still good even if our power didn’t come back on today. You see, the days before, I was praying that the power would come back on which isn’t wrong, but I just ignored the fact that I could ask God to help ME handle the circumstance instead of just fix it for me. No, the power did not come back on for the 4th of July, but we still had an amazing holiday. We grilled, we played lawn games, and we shot off fireworks. Our house was hot and dark, but we made the most of it. It was the first day during out little power outage that I relaxed and enjoyed being at our house.
The Holy Spirit really did fill me up because nothing had changed from the other days. The air was still hot and stale in our house and the rooms were still dark. What changed was how I was able to handle it. I did not try to rely on my ability to overcome adversity that day because I had tried and failed the days before. I gave it to the Lord. I asked Him for help and he answered. He did not suddenly bring the power back, but He helped me to make the most of my situation.
In Jesus’s High Priestly Prayer in John 17, he says “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17: 15). Jesus was asking His Father to protect the disciples from the evil in the world while they were still in the world. Sometimes it is not about asking God to remove you from the situation, but asking him to help you handle it. He does not always take us out of the circumstances we face, but He always walks us through them. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego still walked into the flaming furnace, but God walked in there with them. This was not the holiday weekend I was anticipating, but the Lord sure used it to teach me something. He walks with us through every part of life, the happy, tragic, and inconvenient parts of life. We will walk through fire in our lives, that is inevitable. How we handle the fire is all about who we turn to in the flames. Will you turn to Jesus?
