Some seasons leave you singed.

 

The fire was hot and it left some very real and long lasting scars.

 

We like to believe every battle is like the three men in the fire who came out not even smelling like smoke.

 

But in all honesty, it’s just not always like that.

 

Sometimes your hair is scorched and your heart torn. You know that only by the grace of God did you make it out alive.

 

But you carry a little something with you from it. You wish you didn’t, but you do.

 

It can be years later and you still wince over the furnace of that last season. It wasn’t just hot. It kept getting hotter.

 

Even when the season changed those fiery flames seemed to be on your heels yet again.

 

It wasn’t just you singed by the fire but your whole family felt the flames of the affliction.

 

Truth be told, they still can’t wrap their own hearts and minds around what went down and it changed them as much as it changed you.

 

You didn’t know God was showing them what it looked like not to quit. To keep fighting. To keep standing back up.

 

Some wondered why you didn’t just lay down and let the bell ring but Jesus wasn’t gonna have it.

 

There would be no knock-out in His ring where He was concerned only a lengthy match teaching you endurance and perseverance. Skill and wisdom. Strategy and discernment.

 

Yeah, it was a long one for the record books for sure.

 

That devil was pretty mad when he saw you rise again. He thought for sure you’d lay down and die.

 

He didn’t see what was coming next…

And boy was he forever stunned…

 

He had zero idea that when you were singed by that season he actually caused you to learn to sing with the oil produced in the crushing.

 

What that devil meant for evil….yeah, God used it for good.

 

Checkmate…