In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day

Maybe it's the cold weather creeping in or the fact that I had underlined so many parts of this book but I decided to pick up the book "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" (Yes that's the real title!) and read it again.
A couple years ago during a dark time in my life a wonderful friend suggested I read this book.  I went out in search for it and began reading the pages only to find that the words brought healing to my heart. We had just moved to Lexington, Matt had just started a new job, I was pregnant with Izzy, Colten was starting kindergarten, we had no home, no family close, I left my closest friends behind, we were still on our journey to bring home Onah and Marie (which looked like it was coming to an end as there was talk of shutting down the orphanage), and I was losing hope.  I felt like I was in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, but what I didn't expect after reading the first few pages was the fact that this story originated from a man, Benaiah, in 2 Samuel 23:2-21 who CHASED the lion (yes, he wasn't being chased, he chose to chase a lion) into a snowy pit and in that pit walked away defeating the lion.  Needless to say, I learned how to defeat 'my lions'.
I saw it laying on the shelf the other day and remembered many of the things I took away from it, and thought to myself, "Now that I'm in a different season of my life, I wonder what it would be like reading that book again with a different perspective.  So I am...

While reading today something new stuck out to me that didn't stick out before...
Ephesians 2:10 says, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  
If you've ever gotten an email from me you know this is one of my favorite verses, maybe that's why I just skipped over it before in the book, but the author goes on to pick this verse apart...
"The word 'prepared' derives from an ancient custom of sending servants ahead of a king to secure safe passage.  But God turns the tables.  The King of Kings goes in advance of His servants and prepares the road ahead for us.  Now here's the catch:  Sometimes His itinerary entails coming face to face with a lion in a pit on a snowy day.  But when you find yourself in those challenging circumstances, you need to know that God is ordering your footsteps.  You can have a sense of destiny because you know that God has considered every contingency in your life, and He always has your best interest at heart.  And that sense of destiny, rooted in the sovereignty of God, helps you pray the unthinkable and attempt the impossible."

Looking back things always appear more clearer...I can see where God was directing my footsteps and giving me what I needed at exactly the right time.  He gave me a bundle full of joy (Isabella) when I needed that kind of joy in my life.  He was preparing me for the chaos that he knew would ensue when my life got flipped from 1-4 in 1 year :)  (anyone would need training for that! haha).  Not to mention, providing financially when the odds were stacked against us  In the moment I was hiding and afraid of 'my lions', instead of chasing them and tapping into the sovereignty of God; in the midst of what seemed like hopelessness, I wasn't praying the unthinkable or attempting the impossible, I was merely trying to stay above water.  But the Truth is... the bigger we make God, the smaller our 'lions' become.  

God's word is so true...
 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith  produces perseverance.   Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

Through our trials we learn form our mistakes become more Christ-like, and I want to be the type of Christ-follower who chases my lions knowing My God has my back.  My prayer is I never cower to my fears again, yet turn to the one who can give me strength to fight and defeat the odds stacked against me, because that is when His Glory truly shines through us!  And after all isn't that our sole purpose on this earth?