Where did the week go? We had a long weekend, which was wonderful. Andrew has been working 2nd shift since Monday and I have busy with Bible studies and kids.
I went to Bible study in the morning on Tuesday this week (Andrew on 2nd shift and all) and was so blessed. This weeks chapter was about trials and struggles of the christian life and how God uses those to refine and grow us. June used this wonderful illustration and I just had to share it.
Malachi 3:3 "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver"
A man asked a silver refiner, "why it so important to sit while refining the silver".
He replied, "you must sit and hold the silver in the fire and watch it very closely, never taking your eyes off or the silver can be ruined.
"What are you looking for?"
"I am watching as all the impurities fall off the silver as it is held over the fire."
How do you know when the silver is done?
"I watch until the last impurity falls off and then I remove the silver from the fire. It's done when I can see my reflection in the silver.
What a wonderful picture to think of God intently watching us in the fire (the struggle or trail), never taking his eyes off us. Watching as all the impurities fall off and waiting to see his reflection in us. Just awesome!
The whole chapter just made me so grateful for every trial that comes my way and how God uses them to grow me into the women he wants me to be. How grateful I am he takes the time to refine me. Looking back over a winter filled with sick kids and being stuck in the house for so long and Andrew working awful hours, I see God refining me. I'm not as patient as I should be with the kids sometimes. Through this sick spell I realized I couldn't do it on my own. I depended on God alone for the strength and patience to endure. God showed much grace to me and answered my prayer and was there with me every step. Looking back I needed the reminder, I cann't do motherhood on my own I need to be completely dependent on God's grace everyday for the strength and patience to raise our children.
"Grace is God drawing us sinners closer and closer to himself. How does God in grace prosecute this purpose? Not by shielding us from assault by the world, the flesh and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor yet by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology; but rather by exposing us to all these things, so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy, and to drive us to cling to him more closely. This is the ultimate reason, from our standpoint, why God fills our lives with trouble and perplexities of one sort and another; it is to ensure that we shall learn to hold him fast." J.I. Packer
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