The Gift of Refinement
Forged Through Fire There are seasons of life that none of us would choose. The seasons where prayers seem to echo in silence. Where doors close instead of opening. Where our strength begins to fail and we wonder what God is doing in the middle of it all. If we had the choice, we'd skip the pain and go straight to the promise. We'd choose healing over hurting, certainty over waiting and victory without the battle, but God often does His deepest work in the places we'd rather avoid. Nobody asks for the fire. We pray for the breakthrough, the healing, the answered prayer, the open door. We dream about the mountaintops, but almost nobody prays for the valley, the waiting, the heartbreak or the refining that often comes first. Yet, fire has always been part of God's story. Gold is refined by fire. Steel is strengthened in fire. Clay is hardened in a kiln before it can carry anything of value a nd somehow, so are we. There have been seasons in my own life when it felt as t...
