Stoking Fire is representative of my knocking at a door I wasn’t sure would open, where it would lead or who was on the other side. This door of curiosity, wanting to know the truth and some answers to some big questions no one seems to address fully, was opened welcomingly for me. It was as if someone was waiting right on the other side of that door anticipating the knock. That someone smiled as if He knew me, spoke my language, had some of the same interests and ideas as I did. He seemed to be the hook-up for some of the things I was looking for, and more that I didn’t know I would become interested in.
More specifically, this door was a realization one sunny day in Washington State. It was the realization that answered the question I wasn’t really asking at the time, “Why do we need God?” I had gone through a period of trying to reconcile my personal turmoil and becoming more aware of the evilness of man and the misery of those victims of evil by researching human trafficking. I was trying to process and reconcile a lot of information at different levels, becoming too much at one time. I was walking around physically ill. Not the flu, but the feeling like I was going to puke at any moment.
My thoughts were pondering how to resolve these issues to not have such grief on so many levels. As I methodically started to ask myself questions, what could I do about human trafficking. The efforts I’ve already attempted were apparent. The systems were corrupted, local and federal organizations; proven to myself with only minimal interaction. Then I began to ask how? If these organizations of people and government agencies are so great as they portray, how can these problems be so bad? How come we can’t make a difference as individuals or as a part of these organizations if we truly want to make things better? I had so many other questions, but the one answer to all the questions I was thinking of was a form of no, I can’t, we can’t, they can’t.
Then the answers to the real questions I didn’t know I had; “Who can?” God can. “Why do we need God?” Because, He is greater than all, and you need a power greater than the evil to resolve the problems.” These Q & A’s were a truth and realization that came from the core of my being as if it were there the whole time. I didn’t need to research, to verify with anyone or to question further. It felt like it answered so many other questions I wasn’t thinking of at the moment. The communication was so subtle, yet it was just the beginning of a conversation and a major turning point in my life. It created a spark of hope, an excitement about possibilities, and a burning desire to know more.
This conversation with the Lord has continued and developed into a relationship that is eternal. Jesus and I often sit by the fire, I ask questions, and He teaches me, speaks to me, shows me things I have never known, seen or heard before. This fire burns inside me; I have it with me wherever I go. The answers are always there. I just have to seek out and I will find. Jesus is sitting at the fire, waiting for me to sit with Him, ask Him a question, share my thoughts and imaginings with Him. The fire is Holy Spirit is stoking inside, wanting to keep this conversation going. The Kingdom is wherever I go, because the King is with me. The Lord presented a door to me so I could feel like I was invited. The reality is, I was already at home with Him in His Kingdom. I just hadn’t realized it yet.
This website depicts the conversation, my relationship, the part of the Kingdom that I know from what I’ve been shown by Stoking the Fire. It is like a testimony that shows the many ways in which God speaks, in how He speaks to me. It is a hope that each conversation is a unique creation as He paints truth and possibilities for me. It is an invitation for others to come sit by the fire and enjoy the conversation also.