The Refiners fire

[toad]

“A perfect faith would lift us absolutely above fear.”
(George Macdonald)

“So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold.” (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT)

We all experience situations in life that we call coincidences. My friend Buster says about these situations, “Is that odd? Or is that God?” I have come to believe that many times when coincidences’ occur, that a loving God is working in my life to bring about His will for me. The latest coincidence in my life was yesterday morning and this morning. Yesterday morning as I sat in church my pastor delivered a message on faith and the trying of our faith by trials. This morning as I sit down to study the Word of God, I find myself with the same message at hand. I am learning that when certain Scripture verses show up more than once in a given time, to give some extra attention to their meaning and how they may apply to my life. Today I realize that my faith is constantly being tried by trials. The fire of the refiners fire is constantly burning in my life. At times my trials are no more than keeping up with everyday life. Things such as paying bills, keeping appointments, staying sober, and being honest and polite. And then there are times in my life when the heat of the refiners fire is much hotter as my faith is tested with the loss of loved ones, the loss of friends, our country being a war, and the many natural disasters that have occurred in the past few years. I find myself presenting the same question to God, why? It is only after I maintain my faith by daily prayer and the reading of God’s Word that I am able to see how good can come from any hard situation. I am not saying that good comes because of the hard situation, but that good comes from the situation. This morning the first person I talked to was my AA sponsor. We have been having ice storms here in southern Missouri and he called to see how I was holding up. During our conversation we talked about how the wild birds were busy at the feeders because of this cold spell we are having. I mentioned that how in fair weather the blue jays and the starlings will fight away the other birds at the feeders, but you let a cold hard situation occur and they all seem to get along. The trying of their faith brings about a love and understanding that works above the cold. I saw similar situations during the first few months after the terrorist attacked the World Trade Center. As our faith was tried, we all pulled together with love and understanding. Today I come to the realization that the trying of my faith will work for good in my life and for the good of those I meet. God is doing for me what I could not do for myself…………….JRE

“The refiner would heat the gold in the fire in order to separate the worthless and impure dross from the precious and beautiful gold. The dross would be skimmed off until the refiner could see his image in the liquid gold. God uses the fiery trials and tribulations in our life to purify and beautify our faith so that one day he will see clearly his image in us. This truth offers great comfort to those of us who struggle to make sense of a past marked by suffering. We can be confident that God will separate something priceless from the dross of our experiences.” (The Life Recovery Bible, page 1522)

[best]

Once I can see as being a coincidences. Twice...still I could see it as such.
Three times... I start to wonder.
20 times... I start to question if there is such a thing as coincidences.
God has proven Himself to me so many times that even when a coincidence happens (if they really do happen that is)...I still give Him the credit.


Lead us not into temptation ... (Don't give us more trials then we can handle) and deliver us from the evil one...(keep us safe in our trials)

Be with us through it all ... and the Lord gave this promise....
I will never leave you nor forsake you (will never abandon or give up on us)

[cmc]

I still experience fear and question my faith when I go through trials but it helps to know that things will get better as I am being molded into what He wills.

When it gets hot in that furnace of my trials, I like to remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who when they were bound and tossed into a furnace for refusing to pray to an idol... not only were they spared, but came out free of their bonds, unharmed and without a trace of smoke.

Best of all, they were seen with a mysterious 4th Person.
I like to visualize:
"... four men walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!" (Daniel 3:25)

Thanks toad, for sharing this with us.

[meblonde]

Toad,
God brought me through the fire. 10 months ago my H of 20 years decided a girl at work looked better to him than I did. I knew he loved me and was going through something he did not understand. I did, excitement, new. He cried every time he came over. We had grown so far apart over the years. I focus on my work and the home and drove him away. Needless to say I was devastated.
I could not understand why God was doing this to me. And I knew he had a plan but I could not understand what it could be to take the love of my life away from me.
NOW I DO.. My H was gone about 2 weeks. And he came back, and now our live and love for each other is stronger than it has ever.

God was telling me (us) to wake up before we lost something very special.

I thank him everyday! For letting me see what kind of person I grew into. I did not like me either. Now I do. I just need to continue being who I like now. And keep from drinking. I'm happy we are back together; there is still pain that it happened. But god will take that away in time.

[best]

meblonde

What a wonderful heart you have.
It was such forgiveness that my own wife poured out for me that has made these past 6 years the best 6 years of our whole marriage.
I hope and pray that your husband "fully" realizes the gift God has given him in you.

[meblonde]

Best

Thank You. And best continuing wishes for you and your wife.