A quote by Warren Wiersbe states, “When God permits his children to go through the furnace, he keeps his eye on the clock and his hand on the thermostat. His loving heart knows how much and how long.”
I think God is standing right beside the thermostat now.
The past six weeks have been filled with one trial after another on top of spiritual and emotional testing. God has placed me in the furnace to temper me, teach me and toss me around. Besides the job search, there have been additional health issues – both for me and my son, another round of dealing with health insurance, a late night phone call regarding someone getting access to my credit card, concerns about my family at home, gloomy weather that makes me sad and on and on. Each day has brought something new, rather than any type of relief. I wonder how much higher the thermostat can go before I melt into a heap.
But maybe that’s where I need to be – in a heap of melted self at the feet of Jesus.
1 Peter 1:7 reminds me, “Your troubles have come in order to prove that your faith is real. It is worth more than gold. Gold can pass away even though fire has made it pure. Your faith is meant to bring praise, honor and glory to God. That will happen when Jesus Christ returns.”
The purpose of the heat is essentially to bring praise, honor and glory to God – to change me more into the likeness of Christ – to release the Spirit-filled life in me so that I can be an example to others. So let the heat come, let it melt off everything that hardens me. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.
No comments:
Post a Comment