We're Not Alone

The following excerpt is taken from Janette Oke's "A Searching Heart."  I would HIGHLY recommend this book!  And when I came across this passage I just had to share it. 

"We often feel alone when going through adversity, we are not.  God has promised to be there with us.  He does not make promises, lightly, nor does He disregard them once they have been made.

How do you think Joseph felt, trudging through the heart of the desert, his colorful coat gone, his hands tied, feet shackled, as he was forced to accompany the Ishmaelites who had purchased him from his evil brothers?

How do you think Daniel felt as rough hands picked him up and suspended him momentarily over the mouth of the pit, from which came the muffled roar of hungry lions?

Or the three young Israelite men as brutish soliders forced their hands to their sides and bound them securly, a wall of angry flames awaiting them only a few feet away?

What about Paul the apostle? Ridiculed and beaten.  Driven from town to town or chaned in dank, rat infested dungeons? Did he- did they- remind themselves of God's promises? Or did they simply give up and give in?"