Jeremiah 32:27,  “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.  Is there anything too hard for me?”

Job 23:10,  But He knows the way that I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Those may seem like odd verses to put together, but life can be tough and when you hit those seasons of “going through the fire” and being refined, those two verses go hand in hand.  In order to make it through the necessary training to become all God created you to be you must have the determination that you will come out like the “gold” He created you to be when you are going through the fires of life. And, you must have the mindset that He is God and He can and will do all He has promised above and beyond anything you can ask or think if you will just follow Him and trust Him.  Nothing is too difficult for God! God is looking for those people who are willing to be refined in order to better serve Him ~ are you willing?

Training for anything can be brutal.  We would all like to just be comfy, but we don’t usually grow much in “comfy”!  If you want to become all God created you to be then you must allow Him to mold you into that and trust me it is rarely comfortable.  There may be times when you just want to curl up in a ball and find an escape from it all, but that won’t get you where you need to go.  It’s ok to have moments of escape, in fact, it is necessary, but don’t try living there.  Don’t make God drag you out of there like He had to drag Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Take the time to regroup and ask God for the strength to dig back in.  If you can train your mind to see it as a training ground, not the end-all, then your attitude about it all will change.  It’s still difficult, but ask Him to guide you through every step of it.  He wants to help and He wants you to learn to trust Him more.  You can do this!  Don’t listen to satan’s lies ~ you will make it through this and you will come out shining on the other side and you won’t even smell like smoke.

The really awesome thing is that God loves you and He is telling you that nothing is too difficult for Him and He is trying to refine you into all He created you to be through every good, bad, and ugly experience in life.  He can use it all.  He sees He knows, He cares, and He is the one who will lift you up.  There’s just absolutely nothing fun about refining!  It takes fire, perseverance, learning self-control, learning graciousness, and it takes a conscious letting go and allowing Him to have it all.  Learning to trust Him with everything and having the faith that He loves you and He has promised to do what is best in and through you if you will allow Him to.  You cannot have His best if you insist on doing things your own way and if you fight growing up in Him.  Don’t let satan lie to you ~ he has nothing relevant to say, so don’t allow him to speak in your life.  He has used that lie since the beginning of time, you are smarter than that so just tell him, “not today satan, or any other day.”  As a child of the Most-High God, satan has no business speaking into your life with his little whispers or through another person.  Allow God to work in you today no matter where you are in life.  Take every opportunity, and every experience and allow God to use it to grow your relationship with Him.  Seek Him with your whole heart and allow Him to show Himself mighty in your life!

Quote:  “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt