Refined Through the PainBeispiel

### The Beauty After the Mess The heat you feel now, Is God burning out the dross, So only His glory, His grace, His love and His mercy Fills your clay heart. Preparing you for the Next steps ahead. Your life rests in God's hands, Like a skilled potter Applying pressure, Then relaxing His grip, Scoring your life with His fingernail, To be stronger a vessel - A watertight container of His love & image. ~ Malachi 3:3 is a great example of this refining process. "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." The NIV version of Proverbs 25:4 refers to the purifying process as "removing away the dross." The removal of what no longer has value. The old perspectives. The unhealthy habits. The self-sabotaging tendencies. The perfectionism and the comparison. It’s the removal of who you think you are so that there is space for all that God wants you to be. When we experience the pressures of life, God uses this as a tool to deepen our faith and develop the qualities needed for His intended purpose—to be vessels—as we can’t love God’s way or do life well without being filled with Him. For diamonds to be the radiant jewels that they are today, they must go through extreme heat. We too must go through uncomfortable, high pressure as though we are being stretched from every angle, and through heat as if we have walked through the furnace, so that we can continually grow in grace and be prepared for the next step ahead. The process, although blissfully painful and bittersweet, will be made priceless in the end. For He wants to bring the very best out of us. A heart that is purified before the Lord. Take a moment to visualise your life as a studio of the Potter and know that His Hands are on your heart. Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your grace and for watching me every second, so that my heart doesn't overheat. Forgive me for the times that I have seen this process as unnecessary or haven’t prepared in the right way. Have Your way as You shape and reshape me into Your image. Purify my heart and my mind so that I may be pure before You. Help me to see that I am in a season of refining, so that I might be made strong, and my faith made bold. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. Reflection: Reading the imagery of the refiner who never takes his eye off of the silver, so it doesn't overheat—how does that change the way you see God and the role He plays in this season today?