The Wonder Woman

She grew up in an era when Wonder Woman was the hero of the

day. The show was a hit. Every little girl wanted to be Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman. A truly wonderful woman who was beautiful, strong, smart, powerful, but every inch a woman--beloved by all.

Whenever she and her friends played pretend, she was Wonder Woman, turning in the Wonder-Woman twirl, going from Diana Prince to Wonder Woman in a brilliant flash of light.

She even had Wonder Woman Underoos that she wore until she could no longer wear them. Her little sister had Wonder Woman boots that she wore everywhere with every outfit. Yes, her sister even wore her Wonder Woman boots on Easter Sunday with her pretty, new Easter dress--no matter how much she and her brother begged their mom to make her sister take them off. Her younger sister would throw a tantrum until their mom simply had to give in out of sheer exhaustion. Like herself with her Wonder Woman Underoos, her sister wore those Wonder Woman boots until they fell off her feet.

As the years passed, she forgot about Wonder Woman. Not in such a way that she completely forgot, just forgot in such a way that life went on. The show was eventually cancelled. She grew up. Graduated from high school. Went to college. Got her graduate degree. Fell in love and got married.

And eventually she learned that she was going to have a baby. If the baby was going to be a girl, she would have her own Wonder Woman underoos!

But the baby didn’t make it.

Wasn’t Wonder Woman able to fix anything? Didn’t Diana always twirl around into Wonder Woman and use her magical lasso or her headband or bracelets to save the day? How come she couldn’t use that magic lasso of her deep love this time to make her baby breathe the same way she could get villains to tell the truth?

Wonder Woman NEVER failed.

Ever.

She ALWAYS got her man. She ALWAYS won the day. She ALWAYS saved those she cared about from certain death.

Always.

But this time she was a failure. Even the flash of light when she twirled didn’t change her from plain, ordinary, practically useless Diana Prince into the amazingly wonderful, powerful, strong, practically perfect in every way Wonder Woman. No matter how magical her lasso was, it was powerless this time. Her headband and bracelets couldn’t deflect the enemy’s bullets from taking the life of her Precious. Her invisible plane couldn’t whisk them away to her Amazonian home where magic abounded in a vain attempt to save him.

Wonder Woman NEVER fails.

Never.

She ALWAYS wins.

ALWAYS.

But not this time….

….not this time.

Even if He doesn't...

Daniel 3:18

But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

It recently struck me as quite powerful the opening clause to Daniel 3:18: "But even if he doesn't....." Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego had two options: 1. bow to the golden idol King Nebuchadnezzar had made or 2. be thrown into a fiery furnace and die a horrific death. I am not so sure in their situation or even similar circumstances that I would be able to refuse to bow down to an idol with my only option for not doing so is what I consider one of the worst possible ways to die. ("Some say fire...some say ice..."--yeah, ice--for me, please.)

Even with those two options facing them, the 3 men stood firm in their faith and belief in their God. They even had the audacity to tell King Nebuchadnezzar that "even if" their God did not save them from the fiery furnace, the "will NEVER serve [his] gods or worship the gold statue [he had] set up." Do you get the picture here? These three lowly men told the KING, emphatically, "NO!" Say what?! They DARED to refuse the KING himself?!

Yep. And in doing so, they made a conscious choice to die by fire. I don't know how much you know or how much you have thought about death by fire, but based on my knowledge and understanding, those who die by fire die VERY slowly and feel every bit of the horrific pain of the fire as it SLOWLY consumes them.

I cry and moan in pain when I burn my finger on the stove! I don't even want to begin to imagine what it must be like to die such a slow and horrific death as that.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed that God would save them, "BUT EVEN IF HE DID NOT," they would not do the awful, terrible thing King Nebuchadnezzar ORDERED them to do. Wow. That is TRUE faith.

Even if God did not save them from a death more horrific than any death I can imagine (ok, I can imagine other horrific deaths, but fire is definitely at the top of the list), they refused to bow down. Even if God allowed them to burn slowly, painfully, they refused to bow down. Even if God did not show up, they refused to bow down. Even if....

Wow.

It makes me wonder if my own faith is that strong.

Would I have quit taking the pill "even if" I had known what was going to happen with my first pregnancy?

Would I have accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior all those many years ago "even if" I had known what my future held?

Would I have purposely chosen to be a pastor's wife "even if" I had known back then all that came with such a responsibility?

I am not sure that I can 100% that I would have stood firm in my salvation throughout my younger years if I had known what was coming in my future. I can not say that I would have jumped blindly into what I believed with every fiber of my being that God wanted of me "even if" I had known that one day I would lose an ovary and part of my fallopian tube while 20 weeks pregnant...that I would have a stillbirth...a miscarriage....a difficult pregnancy with a live birth....another miscarriage....a life and death situation with two life-saving surgeries....more female problems that resulted in completely destroying any dream I may still have had regarding having more children...."even if" I had known that my husband and I would go through a period of time where I honestly and truly hated him...."even if" I had known that I would struggle at various points in my life to hold down a job..."even if" I had known that I would lose a number of close friends over the years.....

Proverbs 24:10 says that if I faint in the day of adversity, my strength (faith) is small (KJV). Is my strength small because I am not so sure that I can say, as these 3 men did, "even if God doesn't"? Based on what the Bible says, yes, my strength is small.

But do you know what?! My Bible also says that when I am weak--when I have no strength--that My Jesus IS my strength--when I am weak, He IS STRONG:

Isaiah 40:29, "He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless."

1 Corinthians 4:10, "Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed."

2 Corinthians 12:9, "Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me."

2 Corinthians 12:10, "That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Ain't our God GOOD?! Thank You, Lord, that when I am WEAK, YOU ARE STRONG! Help me, Lord, be able to live out "but even if he doesn't" in my everyday walk with You.

Since I first posted this blog entry, two songs have come to my attention that fit this theme perfectly. Enjoy.

"Even If" by MercyMe

"Thy Will be Done" by Hillary Scott & the Scott Family