Clay Ennis Hand hugged the wall and found the door behind which the dog was still barking. Four blows later, the flat-headed axe overcame the door. The room was fairly clear of smoke and housed a young woman lying prone on the floor, her wheelchair on its side about six feet away. Clay righted the chair and placed her back in it. The golden retriever licked at her hands and wagged his tail assuringly.The woman explained that the retriever was trained to open most doors, but this one proved too heavy, being self-closing with a slick round knob instead of a lever mechanism."Time to get us out of here, now." Clay initiated. "I'm just glad you're alright. Hold this towel over your face to keep the smoke out."She shot him an icy, indignant look."What? Oh my! Whoops. Sorry about that. I didn't realize you had lost the use of your arms. Don't I feel like a horse's patoot!" Clay apologized."Forget about it." she said sharply. "Just get us out of here.""I'll wrap the towel loosely around your head, how's that?""Fine with me." she agreed.Clay heard radio traffic, "Ladder 9 performing vertical ventilation." "That's strange." he thought. "Vertical ventilation for a minor fire like this?"They were preparing to exit the room when they felt a vibration and heard a deep rumbling noise beneath them. The goldie whimpered. With the door still closed, Clay went to the window and saw billowing, black smoke rolling out from below. The smoke shrouded the sun and the room fell dark. The temperature rose immediately and enveloped him like it does when you pour water on the rocks to steam a sauna...Henry Blackaby outlines insights for handling our difficult circumstances:"1. Settle in your own mind that God has forever demonstrated His absolute love for you on the cross. That love will never change.
"2. Do not try to understand what God is like from the middle of your circumstances.
"3. Go to God and ask Him to help you see His perspective on your situation.
"4. Wait on the Holy Spirit. He may take the Word of God and help you understand your circumstances.
"5. Adjust your life to God and what you see Him doing in your circumstances.
"6. Do all He tells you to do.
"7. Experience God working in and through you to accomplish His purposes."
Blackaby also states that instead of responding to difficult times where we can't sense God's direction by blaming God, condemning ourselves, or going into depression, we can look at our situations with an expectation that God is about to bring us to a deeper knowledge of Himself and His purposes. Sometimes God has bigger plans than what our prayers reflect. We should have faith that God will reveal the true meaning of our circumstances so we can see His greater scheme.We can know that God never stops calling His people to come closer to Him. He never stops working for the advancement of His kingdom, and will use our circumstances to mysteriously bring glory to Himself.What are we to do to overcome our difficult situations even though we are just human? "Jesus gave them this answer: 'I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.'" (John 5: 19)We cannot do it alone. We must depend on God to reveal His truth about what He is doing. Pray for His perspective. "Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." (Psalm 27:14) To God be the glory.