Beloved, By God’s grace, this has been and still is a refining phase of my life. I have to answer for me and for my family who depend on me. Because of this lockdown, forced by an unprecedented pandemic, I have seen the worst of people under pressure displayed and have heard the dirty thoughts of hearts been spoken out in brazen fashion. I have even seen and heard my own flaws too. It is with these revealings that I have decided to hunker down even more in God’s presence to allow for a purer refinement so my thoughts and words display God’s glory. So I am seen to be like HIM full of love and light and bold to express it to all of my world around me. Will you? Will you admit you need refinement, and surrender to God to clean you out too so HE can display your refined beauty to the world?
Isaiah 48:8-11
8 Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, And were called a transgressor from the womb.
9 “For My name’s sake I will [b]defer My anger, And for My praise I will restrain it from you, So that I do not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another.
Psalm 19:14
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.