How can we cultivate a faith like Daniel in our modern world?

Nothing that holds us together like God does. Nothing gives us the peace or strength God does. Nothing that can bring true joy like God can.

NOTHING compares.

Last night, we held the sweetest leader training with women who deeply love Jesus. Sometimes, I am astounded when I think about the women God has put in my life. I feel so underserving.

If I remember correctly, I started praying that God would plant me in a group of godly women in 2011. I desperately wanted sisters to walk through the valley with. Lo and behold, by 2013, He had brought a harvest. My life started to be filled with women who loved the Lord and who love me well. Still today, they love me well.

We talked last night about why we changed the name of our ministry from Beautifully Broken to Finding Beautiful.

We realized—literally, several of us came to the same conclusion independently at the same time—that women in our ministry were getting stuck in the brokenness instead of the beauty.

My heart and hope in writing my book was that women would find beauty in their brokenness. Beauty from ashes is one of the things God does best. Goodness knows, He has done it for me time and time again.

It doesn’t mean trials don’t come or that tragedy doesn’t hit. I still worry about my family and get anxious when the world seems dark. But if I keep my eyes and focus on Him, He somehow brings beauty in the midst of suffering—every time.

Everything about God becomes beautiful when you know Him.

I started studying the book of Daniel this week. Today, I was amazed by his strength.

The finest, most handsome, smartest, physically fit boys, 13 to 17, were taken into captivity in Babylon, into a pagan culture, to serve a wicked king. These boys were the same age as my boys. They were boys with godly wisdom who didn’t protest the food they couldn’t eat. They respectfully requested a diet that would honor their God.

I thought about the hostages in Gaza. What would it be like to be taken to another place? By hostile, evil people. The strength it would take to survive. I thought about how hard it would be to keep my cool or my mouth shut. Oh, so hard. I would probably protest and fight back, which might not end well. I prayed God would give the hostages still in Gaza the kind of wisdom and purity of heart that Daniel and his friends had.

Consider the strength it would take a teenager to stand firm in his faith, not consuming the finest foods and the king’s delicacies. To not be lured into the world of drinking and sexual entertainment that was worshipped.

It’s not really different today. Satan still lures our kids (and us) into a culture and world that worships alcohol and crude entertainment. I think most of us moms aren’t sure how to combat it, much less trust that we can.

But we must. What does that kind of faith and strength look like?

It takes surrender.

The kind of surrender that causes your knees to hit the floor and your hands to raise in worship.The kind of surrender that causes you to crave learning about God, so much so that you start digging deep into His word. You're no longer a baby Christian who needs milk, but a woman mature in her faith who needs meat.

It takes a relationship.

The kind of relationship you are willing to die for. A relationship worth losing friends or popularity for. A relationship worth suffering for.

A relationship worth fighting for, convictions worth standing for, because you know that God is who He says He is. You no longer just believe in God, but you believe God.

Daniel and his friends undoubtedly suffered even when they were promoted to be servants of the king. They had to be so spiritually stretched. They served evil kings who did wicked things. Tyrants who killed for no reason and tortured sadistically. Killing and sacrificing children. Burning people to death.

Evil.

Yet, these young, brave men, convicted to the core, stayed faithful to God. They didn’t give in to the culture around them. They knew their God. They trusted their God.  

And God never abandoned them.

Nothing mattered more to them than their God.

Oh, how I pray we can say that, sweet ones. That our children rise up because of the faith and strength they see in us.

Nothing can or will ever compare to Jesus.

Let’s pursue the same courage and faithfulness that Daniel and his friends had.