Princess Amber had been hidden away in a tower most of her life. She didn’t know she possessed a great power within her. She had never been pushed to use it. Then, her life turned upside down in the midst of a fire. The fire sent her on a journey away from her home, away from her father. She had lost much in the fire before and she wasn’t prepared for the trial by fire she was about to walk through.
If you’ve read my third book, Beauty Reborn, you know the struggles Amber had with the magic she was born with and the devastation it brought. For those who have not read it, I’ll try not to spoil it too much, but Amber faces fire after fire after fire once she sets out on her unexpected journey and it reminds me a lot of times and seasons I have faced in my life–and am facing. I don’t know about you, but there have been many seasons in my life where it seems I’m drowning in the storms of life or facing fire after fire after fire and it never lets up. A song I was listening to this morning talked about God leading them by green pastures and still waters, referring to one of David’s most famous Psalms, Psalm 23, and it hit me that I don’t even know when the last time was that I felt the peace of green pastures or still waters.
There is a scene towards the end of my third book where Amber gets caught in a wall of fire. Hot, bright fire meets her on every side and she can’t get out. She is unable to see any way out or hear anything but the roar of the fire surrounding her. Her voice is hoarse from crying out for help. Then, out of the midst of the fire, a voice calls out her name. She doesn’t know why, but the voice is calming to her. She hears the kindness in his voice and senses the gentle compassion in his hands. He asks her how he can help her. She pours her heart out to the man–all her fears, all her hardships, all her problems, and he listens.
I based this scene off of the story in the Bible of three young men who were taken from their homes, their families, had their names changed, and lost any chance of having their own lives or families in the future. They were now permanent members of the king’s court and had to follow the whims of whatever this king asked. When the king crafted a large golden image that he required everyone in the kingdom to worship every time a certain song played, these young men had a choice between serving and trusting the God they had been raised to follow, or giving into the pressures of the king who had besieged their land and following the crowd. They chose their God and refused to bow down to the graven image. When they were brought before the king, The king called for them to be thrown into the fiery furnace, and not just the normal fiery furnace, a furnace that was made to be seven times hotter than it normally was. The furnace was so hot that it killed the guards that took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego up to it to be thrown into it. They were even given the chance to bow down to the graven image to avoid being thrown in the fire, but they still believed in the power of their God over the power of the king.
They were bound and thrown in the fire. With it being so hot that the guards were instantly killed, they should have died the moment they entered the fiery furnace. But, they didn’t. King Nebuchadnezzar watched from the outside, but noticed something strange. There was a fourth man in the fire. His words were, “the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” There was something so different about the fourth man, that the king had never seen anything like this man. He and the three the king had bound and thrown into the fire were walking around, unbound and unharmed in the fire. Nebuchadnezzar was so amazed by what he saw, he called them out from the fire and was even more amazed that they were not only not harmed by the fire, they weren’t singed and had no traces of the smell of smoke on them.
The Mage’s Son is much like the fourth man in the fire. He is different than any other characters and people in the realms. Whenever he comes to any of the royals that the stories follow, there is something different about him. He always has compassion shining out from his eyes and always comes to them in their greatest hours of need. But, he doesn’t just show up when they are in need. He shows them how much he knows them and knows about them and how he has always been there for them. He changes their lives by a touch, a word, relates to them and their troubles, brings them healing and peace beyond explanation. Like the fourth man in the fire who is described to appear like a son of the gods–likely the Son of the True God–the Mage’s Son is comes to Amber in the fire. He reaches out, heals her wounded eyes, and is with her in the fire.
It is so easy to focus on the fire that surrounds us. To feel trapped and overwhelmed by the trials and destruction and hardships in our lives. I often feel like I’m standing in the fire, lost and confused and alone with no one to help me or hear me above the deafening roar of the fire that surrounds me. Oh, that I had the faith of Shadrach, Meschach and Ebednego that no matter what circumstances they faced, they knew their God would be with them. They didn’t fear the fire because, whether they died or lived, they knew their God was greater than any of the false gods Nebuchadnezzar served.
When life is hard and you are standing in the fire, though it may be hard to see and remember, Jesus is standing with you in the fire. He never leaves you and nothing can separate you from His love. Sometimes, He asks us to walk through the fire to show the power of His glory and majesty when He walks us through the fire and we come out on the other side unsinged and unharmed. Sometimes the fire is meant to refine our hearts and test us to make us stronger, and sometimes we do get burned, but that should never lessen our faith in the power of God. Just as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed their God would be with them in the fire, remember, the God that was with them is with you always.
Trust in the One who willingly stands in the fire with you and believe He will see you through.
Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller 