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Blessed Believers



Once upon a time, there was a girl named Maddie. Now, this Maddie girl was seven months into a bizarre "break" with a guy, and well, she wasn't handling it well. But truth be told, her struggles had started lonnngggg before that guy was even in the picture; the past year had been rough, made her mental health not-so healthy.


However, things had started to get better... thanks to God permeating her life with so much Scripture, that she began to fall in love. Not with a boy, but with the King. And so, she wanted to document this with a painting, a joyous painting to reflect her newfound joy.


After a quick google search, she found her reference photo; painted a dark, swirly background; sketched that laughing, jubilant girl; started filling in her flesh-tones; made some swirly hair to match the swirly background; but something wasn't right.


The ambitious artist that Maddie is... decided that words needed to cover the girl's skin.


And so, she mixed a nice reddish tone, took the smallest paintbrush that she could find, and wrote - over and over and over again - blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her (Luke 1:45).


Once all of the red in the girl's face came from these words, Maddie decided that the hand needed a different verse - she is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future (Prov 31:25).


With all the red skin-tones now hiding a sweet, Scriptural message, Maddie realized she needed to cover them up, since she needed to add highlights to make the flesh look realistic. So, she mixed an off-white color and set about placing dot... after dot... after dot of paint on this girl's happy face.


And then she tweaked the hair.


And the background.


And decided that, since most of the red-lettered words were indistinguishable beneath the white dots, she was going to write the two verses along the girl's shoulders.


And she did that with a cool metallic paint pen, so she then added coppery scribbles to the rest of the scene.


And lastly, she dabbed a hint of copper on the white of the girl's eye. Which made the message of this piece suddenly clear:


It dawned on her that this girl - with all her warm hues and orange reflections in her eyes and fading, evaporating hair - was in the fiery furnace. In the fire, just like Maddie had been... was still.


One of the first things this Maddie girl did when she found out about her devastating break was ugly cry. The second thing, however, was journal. She poured her heart out to God, asked that He give her a trial by fire to refine her faith and burn away all the sin and fear that was plaguing her.


Seven months later, at the completion of this painting, she saw how God was working everything for His good, to free her just like she'd asked. Now, Maddie could laugh in the fire - just like her painting depicted - because she'd seen how the Lord had changed her... and knew that His transformative work was still going on.


Plus, He revealed that the two random verses He'd put on her heart could be spoken as one: Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her, [for] she is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future.


She was without fear... because she believed in the King. Trusted His Words, His Ways.


Now, another six months have passed. And this break has (thanks to God's leading) has become a breakup. And as the months have gone by, Maddie's realized that the refining fires of the Father will never really end... on this side of heaven. Sure, He'll give seasons of ease and respite at times, but as a Child of God, the more she seeks to live like Jesus, the more burning of her sin is required.


But it's a good burning. A purifying. A forming of indestructible, precious gold (1 Peter 1:7).


So she, we, you can laugh without fear. You can trust that, as the blessed believer of the One True King, you are safe in His hands. He's in the fire with you, so embrace the flames...


And be not afraid.

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