Refiner's Fire

I certainly don't want to come to the end of my earthly life (whenever that happens) still sheltering in my soul all the selfishness and foolishness that I accumulated on my way to adulthood. And still, if I could, I'd choose to protect myself from any painful situation that God might design to clean me up and make me more like Himself. So since I don't really have enough wisdom to know what's best for me from the eternal perspective, I want to choose again and again to accept whatever He sends, and to seek the glory of God and the refinement of my spirit through it. I read the other day in Streams in the Desert about a refiner of gold, and that's what got me thinking along these lines.

"The metallurgist . . . subjects the precious metal to a hot fire, for only the refiner's fire will melt the metal, release the dross, and allow the remaining, pure metal to take a new and perfect shape in the mold. A good refiner never leaves the crucible but stays near so the fire will not become even one degree too hot and possibly harm the metal. And as soon as he skims the last bit of dross from the surface and sees his face reflected in the pure metal, he extinguishes the fire." (Arthur Tappan Pierson). The prophet said of God in Malachi 3:3, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

Isn't it comforting to know that when the fire is hot, the Refiner is near?

My mouth feels somewhat better this morning. I'm thankful for enough energy the past two days to make excellent progress on refining the magazine articles I'm currently working on, plus accomplish a couple of other assignments. I come home at the end of the day tired but feeling fine.

Tomorrow, as early as possible, I'll post the result of today's CA 125 test.

Love,
Carol