So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

~1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

The black, charred area on the hillside was impossible to miss. It had been through the fire.

As we drove along the rural byways near our southwest Idaho town, I pointed out the charred area to my husband. “I think that’s where the wildfire was last week.” While checking online for more information, we read that 2,426 acres had burned, likely started by July 4 fireworks and pushed by twenty-mph winds before it was successfully contained. Thankfully, no homes were destroyed, but tragically, a pig farm lost a barn and thirty-five to forty pigs.

Several fire departments from surrounding areas worked together to eliminate this fire in a couple of days. We saw the smoke from our own home, so we knew it was not far away. Scary as that was, we were grateful for skilled, trained firefighters who quickly contained and doused it.

Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.

~Psalm 66:12 NLT

Fires in our area are always of great concern during summer’s dry heat. What a great reassurance to know that properly trained personnel take on the job, fight the threat, and protect us, and that we can count on recovery. As devastated as the burnt land looks now, we expect that native grasses, wildflowers, and plants with large taproots will sprout up before we know it. In some spots, there are even plants that only grow after a fire.

Threatening circumstances have also arisen multiple times in my own life. From financial struggles to a high-risk pregnancy to health issues, just to name a few. How can we continue in faith and expect a positive outcome?

I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “These are my people,” and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”

~Zechariah 13:9 NLT

We should always look back at how faithful God has been. He carried me through past challenges and kept me safe. His Word assures us that though fires flare up, He will prove faithful again as He contains and douses the flames of adversity. He will refine our hearts and minds as we call upon Him. This will, in turn, increase the value and preciousness of our faith.

When circumstances arise that threaten to burn you, be encouraged by God’s faithfulness in your past and by the promises of His word. 

Father God, You have brought me safely through fiery circumstances in the past. I am so grateful, and all praise is due to You. I trust You to continue to refine me like silver and to purify me like gold with every challenge that comes my way. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2026: Through the Fire: Anita van der Elst: All Rights Reserved.