God’s Trustworthiness in the Face of Fire

Decisions are a serious of moments, don’t you think? We make huge decisions but if we take a step back, we can see how each larger decision is really made up of a series of smaller ones, guiding us toward that life-changing moment.

I remember one, those life-changing moments. A breath of time whose ripple effect altered my life forever.

Typical, until . . .

It was a typical morning for my family. A quick walk for me. The older girls scooted off to school. Our littlest snuggled next to her daddy. The scene I left was like any other day. On my way to work I realized I’d forgotten something at home. I wasn’t far so I turned around and headed back. Life continued as expected. Normal. Ordinary. Until I turned down my street and gazed toward my home.

Smoke poured from every nook and cranny. Stunned, it took me a few seconds before reality smacked me in the face. My daughter and her dad were still inside. Moments later a neighbor arrive and ran inside my burning home to find my family as I frantically called 911. Soon firefighters and firetrucks arrived, lining our normally quiet street, as they searched for my little girl.

Waiting for help to arrive, I dropped to my knees on the cold driveway and turned to the One I knew was present, crying out to Him to find my sweet girl.

“Come quickly to help me, O Lord my savior.”

Psalm 38:22, NLT

A mama’s job is to protect and care for the littles entrusted to us. And when our child’s safety is threatened, the core of our being is shaken. There may be moments we say we trust God with our kids, but when the rubber meets the road, when the physical safety of one of our precious kids is threatened, we stare fear right in the face and attempt to make a life-altering decision.

Will we trust God?

Anything But Typical . . .

Hours later I stood in the hallway of the hospital. My youngest daughter and her dad had been admitted—a matter of life and death—and the weight of reality pressed deep on my soul. Fear settled like a heavy cloak, pressing in as I wrestled with that life-altering question: would I trust God no matter what happened? I just received news that it looked like my little girl would not survive. The question whispered deep: would I still trust Him?

Despite the fear before me I said yes. If she lived, I would trust him. If she died…I would trust him. God is trustworthy, even in this.

Read that again: God is trustworthy, even in this.

Have you ever had a moment like that? Perhaps not a house fire, but a moment where you felt, deep in your gut, that you needed to decide whether or not you would trust God regardless of the circumstances before you? Or perhaps especially because of those circumstances?

Maybe it was a decision to move across the country to an unknown city. You questioned, you wondered…would you trust him?

Or you waited for two little lines to appear and answer the longing to grow your family. Hesitantly you look…would you trust him?

Or you received a diagnosis that’s caught you unprepared, unaware, and very afraid…would you trust him?

Maybe life simply isn’t what you expected, what you planned, how you dreamed…would you trust him?

“Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me.”

John 12:44, NLT

The question stirs…can God really be trusted with this stuff of life? Times when our lives are thrown off kilter, when we can barely breath, barely function.

You hope. You pray. You search Scripture for an anchor, something to cling to.

God is trustworthy, even in this. 

“For you are God, O Sovereign Lord. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant.”

2 Samuel 7:28, NLT

Declare What is True

I declared this truth that day in the hospital: I chose to trust him, no matter what. I’d like to tell you that because of my trust, or rather because of God’s faithfulness, my daughter and her daddy lived. Well, her daddy did but my sweet little girl…she did not. My worst fear, that of losing a child, became my reality.

Those words I declared in the hallway however, that God is trustworthy, no matter the trouble, anchored my soul. Life didn’t get easier, it got harder, a lot harder in the days and months, and even years that followed. As time passed, I learned the harder life became, the tighter I clung to God’s promises, and the more he revealed just how trustworthy he is.

His faithfulness sustain me.

His mercies are new every morning.

His love knows no bounds.

His tenderness captures each tear that falls.

His presence is near, moment by moment. Breath by breath.

God is trustworthy. No matter the trouble.

“This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”

Hebrews 6:19, NLT

Do you believe that God is trustworthy, no matter what? Share a story where you have experienced His trustworthiness.