Reforming the Feminine ContentBeauty for Ashes ~ Silver for Slag
The devil, things and people being what they are, it is necessary for God to use the hammer, the file and the furnace in His holy work of preparing a saint for true sainthood. It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply. The Root of the Righteous, A.W. Tozer, p. 157
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“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10
“For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.” Psalm 66:10
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10
“For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.” Malachi 3:2, 3
I grew up with a 585 foot smelter stack in my backyard, as it were. A little different than having a view of the Space Needle. 
The Bible teaches nothing is left to chance, and God grew me up in Anaconda, Montana in an environment of miners and smelters and heat. Thus, it is deeply familial to read about the Refiner’s Fire in the Bible, a metaphor often used to describe spiritual purification. Immediately I revert to childhood images of the smeltering process, where molten batches of useless ore separate from the precious metals. This is impossible without intense heat, and it helps me wrap my head around the intense furnaces God allows in seasons of life. He KNOWS what He’s doing, it’s NOT all for nothing, and IF I submit to the entire process, spiritual silver SHALL emerge. The One who is Faithful and True PROMISES.
If the generalities of Christmas are secondary to you this season, perhaps the Refiner Jesus has allowed a winter furnace. Let Him have his way, sisters, and do not want so much for relief until the smallest drops of dross and slag are purged in your purification process. For certain, the Bible was written in tears, and to tears it will yield its best treasures. God has nothing to say to the frivolous man or woman.
Have thine own way, Lord. May we shine for Your Kingdom’s Sake .
Thank you.
“For certain, the Bible was written in tears, and to tears it will yield its best treasures.”
That is a beautiful and deeply true statement. I had never thought about it just that way before.
[...] mom to a slew of kids, an engaging writer and a very wise and winsome lady. She posted today on the Refiner’s fire and shared this [...]
Thanks for your post here- and thanks for you wise words at the CCC women’s dessert last night. We’re still all talking about it today. I really appreciate the things that you shared with us. And thanks for mentioning your blog, I look forward to reading it.
I remember driving past Anaconda on my way to Glacier National Park one summer. I was still many miles away and I could see the monumental smelter stack in the distance. At first, it played tricks on my eyes, because it looked like a trail going straight up the mountainside, but then I turned a corner and immediately it jumped out as a silhouette.
I had just graduated from college and I was about to move out to Seattle. I grew up in a suburban city where everyone fled after high-school graduation in search of an exciting life in an urban area. I looked at this tiny town in the shadow of the smelter stack and wondered whether the kids there were proud or embarrassed to live in what was obviously a mining town. Not once did I consider that something so unbelievably industrial could have such spiritual significance.