As a little girl, I knew absolutely nothing about God. I wasn’t raised in church. Sadly when I was a toddler, my parents were hurt by church and simply never went back for 15 years. The only thing I knew about God were the pictures in our family Bible.



Did anyone else have a massive Bible with foil edges and full colored pictures somewhere in their home as a centerpiece decoration? It really wasn’t to be touched, but to look pretty on the table in the foyer. But I loved to sneak in and look at the pictures.



One of those pictures was of a man in a robe, surrounded by lions. The lions appeared to be tame and the man appeared to be quite calm and in complete control. I had no way of knowing why this man was surrounded by lions, perhaps he was some sort of circus performer.



It literally took me over 40 years to actually study the story in my own Bible to understand the scene … and understand maybe that’s not what the scene really looked like at all. Maybe the lions weren’t tame, maybe they were ferocious and pacing the floor for attack. And maybe the man in a robe wasn’t in charge at all. Maybe there was something unseen in the room achieving the impossible.



And what if, in the middle of your hardest times, there’s something unseen in the room with you too. Something holding back the threat, something shielding you with divine protection, something doing the absolute impossible for you … but you just can’t see it.



Today, consider maybe that’s precisely what is happening. God has sent his angels to stand guard over you during this. No, he didn’t magically eliminate the problem, but in the middle of the problem, he is protecting you from the dangers.



This is a story of Daniel. If you remember from an episode earlier this week, Daniel is a man of God with the gift of interpreting dreams and messages from God. He’s faithful in every way and earned a high position in the King’s house. A few Kings had come and gone during Daniel’s time, and now there was a new King, King Darius. This King loved and respected Daniel above everyone else and planed to place him over the entire empire.



That of course makes others very jealous. What do jealous people do? They cause problems.



Now Daniel didn’t have a single skeleton in his closet. He was faithful and good in every single thing he did, so his enemies could find absolutely no fault in him. So what did they do? They made something up!



Let’s pause right there … My sister, it doesn’t matter how much good you do, your enemy will find something or create something against you. Always. Don’t be shocked by it. And don’t play pitiful over it. Have you ever heard Mother Theresa’s poem called ‘Anyway’? These were the words inscribed on the walls of her children’s home in Calcutta:



People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;Forgive them anyway.



If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;Be kind anyway.



If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;Succeed anyway.



If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;Be honest and frank anyway.



What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;Build anyway.



If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;Be happy anyway.



The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;Do good anyway.



Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;Give the world the best you’...