An Oldie but Goodie

I've read this a couple of times before, but somehow it found its way back to me from our Adoption Agency. It's about the wait again. It seems sometimes I want things to happen in MY time, not Gods. This was a reminder to us again why things don't always happen when we want them to. Maybe we're not ready yet :) Hopefully someone will remind me to read this again a few months from now when I start complaining about the wait!

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study, and they wondered what
this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the
women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to
the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch
him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her
interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire
and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to
hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as
to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she
thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and
purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he
had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being
refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there
holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire
time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the
flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How
do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and
answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his
eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.