through the fire…

Well, the yard sale was good. God constantly reminds me in big and small ways that He is faithful to provide. Sometimes that provision doesn’t come without sacrifice, though.

The sacrifice in this case was NOT the sunburn you see to the left. No, that would have been my own stupidity in not staying out of the sun.

The sacrifice was the parting with of possessions – which really isn’t a bad thing in retrospect. The staying out in the sun in a sleeveless shirt without sunscreen – yeah, bad idea in retrospect.

The pastor at the church services we went to last night talked about living a sanctified life. One of the things he mentioned in reference to the verses in 1 Thessalonians we were reading and studying was living a simple life. A less complex life. That really struck both Brad and I. In many ways, I see that God is already working that out in our life. Teaching us that earthly possessions, while sometimes a good thing, can often be the noose around your neck. They can hang you or drown you if you let them. That sometimes, it’s better to let them go. Even if it’s painful.

It’s something that’s been going on in my personal life for the last two years – that refiner’s fire of simplifying. I was reading something this morning as I was in between yard sale visitors about a refiner’s fire…and what a process that really is. The temperature required to refine something like silver is unimaginably hot. As the silver heats, the impurities rise to the surface, and are scraped off by the refiner. This process continues until the refiner sees his reflection in the silver – then and only then does he know the purification is complete.

What an amazing picture. Our refiner, Christ, isn’t just sitting by, waiting for us to become pure. No, He’s actively invovled in the process – stirring things up….scraping off those impurities in our life as they come to the surface. And then, the amazing thing happens….he looks in, and finally, after all the heat and pain, sees what he’s after – His reflection.

During the yard sale, I was realizing this is one more of those times. The scraping – the purifying – the releasing. It’s all part of the process to be less of me, and more of Him.

The sunburn – yeah….not so much. Other than maybe I need to learn more about the protective properties of sunscreen.