Daily Devotions for Caregivers

I've been out of the "main-stream" life now for about 4 and a half years and I am still rethinking faith. As far as God goes, there's no doubt in my mind that He is. But I frequently return to the topic of faith because as westerners I do not think we really get it. So last night and this morning during my devotions I read and reread Hebrews 11 - The Hall of Faith for believers. This time it was verse 13 that stuck out to me the most. Verse 13 states: These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of God's promises... This statement is very contrary to our western church culture. We are taught to say it 'til we see it and when we see it somehow we think that we can measure faith by tangible means. However, here in Hebrews our list of Bible heroes never saw what they were praying for yet are respected for their faith. Faith is not so much believing 'til we're receiving as it is ...

Sometimes scriptures don't seem too fair. Like the one in Daniel 3. The three Hebrew children are facing a fiery, hot furnace when they make their statement of faith, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us...but even if He doesn't ...we will bot worship you gods... and we know that they indeed did get thrown into the furnace. But we also know that they walked out unscathed! And even though God did not keep them from being thrown in, in the end He did deliver them. Of course, when they made their faith statement they knew God's ability, but were unsure of His actions. They did not presume that God would step in. But what if He hadn't? As caregivers it's easy to see that He hasn't stepped in so far to rescue us out of the situation - because we are still in it. That does not mean that at any point He won't either! He may come riding in on a white horse and redeem the situation. And although that complete deliverance is possible, it hasn't happened...