Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction Isaiah 48:10

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I hear how desperate you are. I see how desperate things have become. And if I could, I would change everything for you, so you could have everything you need in an instant. I’ve encouraged you to hang on a little longer. I hear you saying there isn’t a point. You’ve been pushed to the edge. You’ve waited long enough, been patient long enough, you’ve done your part. Why isn’t someone doing their job?

 

Life has shown me that you could come to the end of your rope but there’s always more rope. If it doesn’t get resolved today, then perhaps tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, find a way to survive today. There’s still more rope; more life. And it feels like you have anvils on your legs, anvils on your shoulders and chest, and there’s no reason to try to make it, because everyone everywhere, yourself included is letting you down; everything is weighing you down, breaking your resolve.

But there’s more rope. And the more you look at this rope and repeat to yourself that you’ve waited long enough, been patient long enough; you are inadvertently tying that rope around your neck. Your own words are like a noose around your throat, cutting off your oxygen. It’s hard not to, but it’s not going to make things happen faster, come quicker, or even straighten out as they should. It makes the enduring that much harder and unbearable.

 

What’s the solution? Don’t think too far ahead. Plan, but don’t be married to the plan. Take it one moment at a time, one day at a time. Focus on what is within your control. Don’t let your mind marinade too long on what you need, because its absence is fuel for desperate thoughts which will manifest to desperate actions. 

 

You are in the furnace of affliction. Everything is overwhelming; the moments of relief don’t seem enough. But you will not be destroyed. It may not seem so now, but you will make it through.  As gold is sometimes refined in fire, your afflictions are refining you. You’ll make it out.  And you’ll make it out better than you were before. But you can’t succumb to desperation. There is something about you and within you and around you being burned off.  Let this process do its perfect work, that at its completion you will come out polished, ready to do His will.

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