Where there's fire, there's smoke...or is there?

With all that is going on with this adoption, the ups and downs and rumors it may end without a child, I have been thinking alot about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

You are probably thinking, "Wow, that is random."  Let me explain.  We probably all know the story but let me sum it up anyway.

King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide.  He had decided that everyone was going to bow down and worship this idol.  If they refused, they would be thrown immediately into a fiery furnace.  So, they gather everyone together and they even hired a band.  When the music started to play, that was everyone's cue to bow down and worship this idol.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, did not bow down.  So,  some astrologers, people who wanted to get in good with the king, came to King Nebuchadnezzar and pointed out the three men that didn't bow down.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought forward and the king asked them, "Is it true you are not worshipping the image I made?  If you don't, I'm going to throw you into the fiery furnace!"

Now let me quote Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

WOW!  They just told the king that they are willing to endure the furnace because God can save them and even if He doesn't they were still going to serve God and not worship this false idol.  So...the king threw them in the fiery furnace, bound with ropes.  This fire was so hot it killed the soldier that got just close enough to throw them in.  King Nebuchadnezzar watched and he saw four men in the furnace and they were unbound and unharmed.

This is the part I love....the last part of Daniel 3:26-27.
"So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisors crowed around them.  They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them."

They didn't even smell like smoke!  Did you see that?  I never saw it till I did the Beth Moore study of Daniel and now I can't stop thinking about it.  When King Nebuchadnezzar saw this, he praised God and decreed no one will ever talk bad about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's God or they would be cut into little pieces.  King Nebuchadnezzar was a little dramatic.  :)

What on earth does this have to do with adoption?  Well, here is what I think.  The ups and the downs of this have been a trial for me.  I am a worrier and I have the tendency to get bitter and angry.  It is a daily battle to keep these emotions in check.  So, when I feel these emotions start to bubble up, I just tell myself, "I don't want to smell like smoke."  God's going to take me through this trial and I don't know if I will end up with the daughter from Rwanda that I have been dreaming about but I can control whether or not "I smell like smoke" at the end.  If people know the troubles we have gone through and can look at me and say, "You look peaceful, I wouldn't even think anything had happened."  That is just the same as saying, "You went through that fire?  You don't even smell like smoke."

Maybe then they will praise God!