...Plain Upon Tablets

Lord God, I will not put you in a box. I trust your ways and know that they are not my ways. From Joel Osteen's "Finished with Fear" Collection: If the only way you're going to be happy is if it happens your way, you're setting yourself up for disappointment .

I know what it's like to be in the fire, to be in those harrowing situations where you just know that nothing will ever be right again, and for a long time, I continued to believe that nothing would ever be right. But the Lord meets us in the fire. He's always with us, so why wouldn't he be in the fire, too? Nothing's too hot for him. Some of our most fiery moments come when we hold fast to our faith and our beliefs and find ourselves condemned for it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are great examples of how the Lord not only comforts but also rewards those who stay steadfast to their faith. When they refused to worship a gold image that Nebuchadnezzar created, they were put in a fire seven times hotter than any fires created to burn those who refused to worship. But they did not burn. No. "Look!" he [Nebuchadnezzar] answered, "I see four men, too, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the fourth is like the Son of God...

When a group of lepers came upon Jesus, they asked him to have mercy on them. Instead of fixing them right on the spot, he wanted them to do something to show their faith. He told them to go to a priest and they would be healed. As they turned and began their trek to a priest, the healing process began. By the time they reached a priest, they were completely healed.