The Refiner's Fire...

When it comes to gold - perfecting and purifying it - when it's first found, it isn't perfect. It has many marks, smudges, blemishes and basically rocks and crud all over it. Some are worse off than others, but you won't find a piece that is perfect and immediately is pleasing to a professional gold refiner. Sometimes a piece might be near perfection to the normal eye but to the refiner, it's nowhere near perfection. So what does the refiner do?

He puts it in a pan and throws it into the fire. In the fire, the gold melts. The fire is so hot that the gold - hard as ever - melts down until it's basically liquid. From there, the imperfections seem to rise to the top and it isn't until the fire melts the gold down that the refiner can one by one take out the imperfections. The blemishes and the dirt and grime. It may take a while but surely he will find each imperfection and he'll take it out to make the gold spotless. He doesn't leave the gold there in the fire when he goes to sleep or goes to take a break or anything like that. No. He is right there with the gold, perfecting it, polishing it. Not leaving the pan's side as he does this.

It isn't until the gold is practically like glass - like a mirror - that he takes it out of the fire. It isn't until the refiner can look into the pan at that gold and see and recognize himself - his face - staring back at him that he's done purifying the gold.

We all know the fire. The fire that burns us, that sears our soul and can sometimes make us wonder why we do what we do. Why we go on. Where is God? Why isn't he here? Why can't we feel him? Why can't we hear him? He seems so far away…

He's there.

I know it's easier said than believed, but he's our refiner.

And the refiner never leaves the gold in the fire. He's right there. Purifying you. Strengthening you. Without pain, there's no growth. Without the fire, we stay our same grimy, imperfect selves. It hurts, but without this fire, we can't grow and we won't grow closer to him. We all have places we need to work on. Places in our souls and selves that need refining and that's what OUR REFINER is doing. He's yearning for us to be his mirrors. And he will work on us until he looks at us and recognizes himself in us.

As much as it hurts, it's what we need.

It's here in this fire that we are the closest to our maker. It's here in the searing flames that our Savior, our Creator, our Father, our Refiner is right there with us. Holding us. Purifying us. He doesn't leave us and he never will. He's right there. Just remember that it isn't just pain. It isn't just a storm that we don't see the eye or clearing anywhere in sight. Remember that this is our refining fire and our Refiner will never leave us. No matter what.

"But he knows the way that I take;
   when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." - Job 23:10

"For you, God, tested us;
   you refined us like silver." - Psalm 66:10

Dear God,
I ask that you basically continue to push me. To challenge me and to make sinning against you as terrifying and as difficult as you have definitely made it recently. It's hard to resist you, Lord, and you know that. I ask that you continue to pretty much remind me at every turn of what is right and what I need to be doing. As annoying and nerve wracking as it was when I didn't really want it, I know it was what I needed. Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for making sinning impossible to do and enjoy it. Thank you for sticking with me. I don't deserve it and I know this. Continue to refine me, oh Lord, and never let me go. Teach me to cling to you, Father, and only you. Continue to sear and refine me, Lord.

And please, no nightmares tonight. Protect me in sleep and while I'm awake. For your will be done, dad. I love you.

Love,
Your Daughter.

The story of the Bald Frog and the Wig.

(This was my random question on my profile on here, but it was too long to post... so here it is! xD)

One day there was this baby frog wandering around the Sahara. Needless to say, he was very lost. All he wanted to do was find his mother and siblings (his father walked out on him when he was very young) but no matter how far he traveled, he couldn't find them. On his journey, he ran into a four legged furry creature. We know this creature to be a lion. A cub, to be exact. This cub knew what it was like for the frog because he himself had run away many times and ended up losing track of his family. He decided to let the frog stay with him. So the little frog grew up with the lion and his family. As they both grew older, the frog was very sad, for his best friend the lion was growing hair and the frog stayed hairless and slimy. He felt even more of an outcast than normal. So for a present, the lions cut some hair from their tails and made a little mane/wig out of the hairs for the little frog and presented it to him as a surprise. So now the previously bald frog runs around with his family, the lions, always wearing his wig the lions crafted for him. And he was happy all his days. The end. - Yes, written by me, Sarah Brana. :/