Fiery Seasons – Part 1

Seasons in life come and go. Some are just plain hard. Fiery furnaces pop up, often unexpectedly. Very often they hit you when you are “doing the right things”. Everyone has trials and let’s face it, sometimes circumstances just plain suck. I get it! Pain will come, but I am a very big believer in getting every bit of gain for your pain!

How you go through hard circumstances will determine how you come out on the other side, when you come out on the other side, and sometimes if you come out on the other side. God’s word says, “6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Scripture also says, ”12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12–13). These scriptures are clear enough. It is not strange to go through fiery trials, you are not alone, and there is joy and reward that will come as part of it.

There is something that happens when we endure in faith – even if it is messy and less than graceful. It is from this place that the gold that God has deposited in each and every one of us is mined and revealed. It is then ours to keep and cannot be taken away. We also have the promise that God will strengthen us to endure. In 1 Peter 5:8-11, the Classic Amplified version tells us, “8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. 9 Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace [Who imparts all blessing and favor], Who has called you to His [own] eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself complete and make you what you ought to be, establish and ground you securely, and strengthen, and settle you.”

This one I admit I have found more than a bit annoying at times – mainly because God’s idea of “a little while” and my idea of “a little while” haven’t always lined up. Clearly, it has been during these times that I have been faced with the fact that I have been incomplete and wanting something, because patience was necessary to be perfected in me (James 1:4, KJV).

When we are in the furnace, our best choice to avoid the most pain and the inevitable round the mountain do-over, is to simply  use the process and submit to what the Lord is doing in it. We must also resist the process that the enemy would have us yield to (blame, bitterness, self-pity, condemnation, destructiveness, rebellion…). The truth is not all pain comes from the enemy of our souls. It takes discernment to know what to yield to and what to resist. Get good counsel from wise, discerning people (not your buddies who are just as confused as you are). Look at the fruit in people’s lives in the area you are in addressing. If you don’t like what that looks like, go to someone who has yummy looking fruit in that area. If you don’t know anyone, ask God to connect you with someone, but be open – He may surprise you with who this is. In the area of discernment, without a doubt, God is always good and good ultimately looks like good. Don’t get caught up with a bunch of mind-bending religious rationalizations of how something bad is really good. It may not always feel good, but if the process carries that peace deep inside of you, it is God leading you, even if you don’t understand (yet).

As we grow and mature, we find we are able to endure and settle down with less whining and complaining and “why me-ing”. There are times to “stand up and gird your loins” (that is King James for putting on your big girl/big boy panties) and endure, trusting that God is purifying you and empowering you to overcome. He is faithful and will bring forth something unmistakably good and truly beautiful in the process. He is a beauty for ashes kind of God (Isaiah 61:3)!

For more about how God wants to bring beauty from ashes in your life, you can download my free mini book, “Rare and Beautiful Treasures”.