Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a Refiner and purifier of silver."This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says:"He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has HIS eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

i like that story.

whenever i see someone in church or in my life going through something hard or difficult, it's like i'm standing behind one of those two-way mirrors. all that they see is there troubles. how it's hurting them. they think they will never get past it. but what i see...and they can't see...is that God will use that very moment of pain and suffering to make that person More beautiful and more glorifying than when He had first begun His work in them. it's exciting for me to see that. and to know how God works. His creative mind. it's like when i work in the ceramics department. i have a cold slab of clay that i have to bend and shape and warp and smother in slip. i also have to put it through many processes of heat and glaze before it turns into the most beautiful work of art. or the most ugliest thing you could ever see. at that point i decide either to throw it away and try again or keep it and admire it and show it to my friends!!! :)

anyways. enough of me blubbering about art and stuff. the point i'm trying to get accross is look past the pain that's inflicting you right now. God has a deeper purpose for you than what you actually think. pain blinds a person. and until they can drop they're burdens and look to God they're still going to go in a circle of Man i wish This hadn't or wern't happening to me!

that's what my thoughts are anyways.