Refinement

Ya know how when you make spaghetti (or really anything on the stove top) and you burn the noodles, and you have to empty out the pot to get to the burnt stuff? The stuff that’s no good...

I think there are seasons of life like that too.

We have to be emptied out so the stuff at the bottom can be cleaned out.

This process of being emptied out can be uncomfortable and heavy and difficult.

It’s a process of refinement.

The Lord is clearing out all that’s been weighing down who you’re becoming.

It’s going to be ok.

When you don’t understand His ways, you can trust who He is.

“...He is most careful with you” 1 Peter 1:6-7 (MSG)

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

“In the whole land,” declares the Lord,

“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;

yet one-third will be left in it.

This third I will put into the fire;

I will refine them like silver

and test them like gold.

They will call on my name

and I will answer them;

I will say, ‘They are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

Zechariah 13:8-9 (NIV)

“But now, this is what the Lord says—

he who created you, Jacob,

he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…”

Isaiah 43:1-3 (NIV)