The blower motor is suppose to run to activate the sail switch which tells the circuit board that it is ok to open the gas valve and activate the igniter. I am betting that your problem is the thermostat, it is the cheapest part to replace. If that doesn't fix it then you need to decide how to spend $4-500. My wife and I decided to go with a new new 40K Suburban in place of our 30K Suburban. Our repair place gets $90 an hour for labor plus parts so we opted for new as ours had been repaired at least once by the PO. If you decide to go with a new furnace, we got ours at PPL.