Refining

A friend was recently telling me about his hobby. He enjoys collecting stones from the beach and taking them home to polish bringing out all the wonderful colours in them. We see stones which display these beauties when the waves wash over them, but when they dry out they look dull and uninteresting, but not to my friend. Polishing takes several months of tumbling in a special machine, first with coarse grit made from tiny pieces of diamond and ruby, which goes on for about a month, then with a finer grit for another month, and so on until the stones are shiny and displaying all their hidden beauty.

This is rather what happens to us as we continue our walk with the Lord – there is often a lot of refining to do. Sometimes the process is a quite painful as the Lord brings to the surface things He does not like in us, or incidents from our past that need to be dealt with, and we may feel rather like the stones in the tumbling machine. But God knows the beauty He placed in each one of His children and His purpose is to restore it to its full magnificence. The wonderful thing about our Father God is that He knows from the beginning what the “Architect’s plans” were for each of us, (Ephesians 1:4), so that even if the damage got in at the foundations of our life, He can bring full restoration if we allow Him to do so.

Like my friend, our Father watches closely over the refining process, knowing exactly how much we can take at any one time, and waiting patiently until we are ready for the next stage.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Thank You that You know me so perfectly that You can make things better for me than they ever have been – You can bring total restoration. May I have faith to trust You in that process, however painful it may be. I know that You want the very best for me and I thank You, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.