Fourth in the Furnace

“Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Daniel 3:25

Just a few days ago, I had a wonderful birthday celebration at the beach with my family. It was indeed a blast for me. We were all happy, relaxed and recharged, and enjoyed our short getaway. A few days after we went home, I did my bedtime routine past 12am — writing my gratitude and attraction journal, thanking God for everything: the wonderful celebration at the beach, our safe and smooth travel, the wonderful weather, provisions, everything. I had also started to monitor my blood pressure again (even if it had been normal for the past four months). This time, though, the BP monitor displayed 140/86. It was the highest I’ve seen after four months. I shrugged it off, thinking it was because I stood suddenly after sitting. I checked again. 146/100. I decided to meditate and do Reiki. Afterwards, I checked. It was continuously going up, as high as 160/110.

I decided to take my maintenance medicine — which I hadn’t taken for 4 months because of my natural treatment. 10 minutes passed. It went down to 150/100. Thank God, I thought. I got in bed, ready to sleep, but decided against it. I wanted to wait until it went back to normal again. But as I took another reading, it had now spiked back up to 148/98. My husband then decided to bring me to the hospital with our 2 daughters.

We arrived at TMC’s ER past 3am. I had been rushed to the ER for the 4th time this year, 3 of which are due to hypertension. The nurse informed me that I also had a fever. I wasn’t aware of that, but I remembered feeling flushed while at home. They wheeled me over to the Urgent Care Unit, where they monitored my BP with a machine.

After an hour, my BP went down. They ran tests — ECG, blood sugar, all of which were normal, thankfully. I asked the doctor if they could do a TFT (Thyroid Function Test) for me, and he agreed. I prayed to God for a normal result.

Hours passed. My blood pressure had finally went back to normal, and the doctor told me that my TFT result was also normal. At around 8am we went home.

I rested, wondering what could be the cause of my hypertension. I’ve been maintenance free for 4 months. But then I realized: this was once more, God’s wake up call to me. I’ve been so lazy, procrastinating on doing this blog. While meditating for the past few months, I felt Him speak to me: Share your faith. Share [God’s] My love. Share [God’s] My goodness in your life. Help Me draw more people closer.

I kept promising that I would, but I didn’t take action. I didn’t update this blog. I have tons of stories and testimonies of God’s love and goodness in my life, but I was too lazy to share it. The few times I did, they were posts like this — wake up calls for me to finally take action and spread His goodness. For the past few weeks I’ve been eating restricted foods, telling myself, “Oh, it’s just this one time. Just a taste. There’s a birthday celebration, just a bite.” I didn’t sleep early — which I still have a hard time with. The earliest I can sleep these days is 12am.

I understand why God has allowed this to happen, just days after a wonderful birthday celebration. He loves me — us — enough to allow certain things to happen so that we can remember the things we should be doing. The things we should be focusing on, things we should be taking action on. Though it may seem so counter intuitive, (“How can a “loving” God let bad things happen to His children? How can that be a good thing for anyone?”) God loves us that much that He let’s us know when we’re going off track, when we’re straying away. We won’t ever know for sure, with our flawed finite human selves, why the Almighty infinite God would allow bad things to happen. But what I do know is that God allows these things to happen because He cares. Think about it — if God didn’t care, He wouldn’t have given me that wake-up call. I might’ve just continued on with my unhealthy habits, which could’ve possibly lead to something much worse.

Everybody knows the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. There was also a story in Daniel’s book about 3 men thrown into a furnace because they had disrespected the king. But the king suddenly saw another man with them — a man that resembled God. He ordered them to come out, and the 3 men went out scratch-free, not even smelling of smoke.

I remember someone saying, “Remember that God didn’t put out the fire, or stopped Daniel from getting thrown into the den in the first place. It’s not about God stopping all the things that are bad, it’s about who is in there with you.”

Maybe you’re going through the fire right now. Maybe you’re being tested, stretched, pulled. Maybe you’re at rock bottom. But you’re not alone. Just like the 3 men in the furnace, there’s someone in there with you. Someone who is always, always there. Maybe He feels distant. Maybe you don’t even feel His presence. But that won’t take away the fact that He is always there, no matter what. He is the one that stays, even if all else fails.

Because He never fails.

We may not know where He is taking us. We may not know what’s ahead. But what I do know is that He is with us every step of the way. He has great plans for us. Plans not to harm us, but plans for good, plans to give us hope and a future. His plans are always better than any other plans. We can only see partially, but He sees everything. Whatever we think we want to happen, whatever ideas we’re holding on to stubbornly, they’re all flawed — because WE can’t see everything. Only He does. Wouldn’t you trust Someone who sees all that there is to happen, rather than our own flawed, biased judgement?

I am still in my healing journey. Everyday, every minute I am grateful to God for the gift of life. The moment I wake up in the morning is already a gift. Another chance to live. Another moment to live with my loved ones. Another chance to do the things I haven’t done yet. Another day to share love. Maybe you, whoever you are, whatever season of life you’re in, are going through some rough waves in your life. But keep the faith, my friend. God’s got you, and He is always there, the fourth in the furnace.

Be blessed,
Alpha

October 16, 2018