THE BLACKSMITH, TRIALS, AND GOD

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This is a repost. (Written some time ago but a friend needs to see this today. Take care, dear friend.). So please bear with me on this one, friends. Thank you.
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"Try me in any way you wish, Lord, 

only don't throw me on the scrap heap."

I have singled out that line from the story. You see, that line means more to me and (I believe) to a lot of other people I know. And I guess there's more out there who hold questions in their minds and hearts about --------- 'Just what is God doing to me?'
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Here's how the story goes..... and to quote --
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"You perhaps recall the story of the blacksmith who gave his heart to God. Though conscientious in his living, still he was not prospering materially. In fact, it seems that from the time of his conversion more trouble, affliction and loss were sustained than ever before. Everything seemed to be going wrong.

One day a friend who was not a Christian stopped at the little gorge to talk to him. Sympathizing with him in some of his trials, the friend said.........

“It seems strange to me that so much affliction should pass over you just at the time when you have become an earnest Christian. Of course, I don’t want to weaken your faith in God or anything like that. But here you are, God’s help and guidance, and yet things seem to be getting steadily worse. I can’t help wondering why it is.”

The blacksmith did not answer immediately, and it was evident that he had thought the same question before. But finally, he said..........

“You see here the raw iron which I have to make into horse’s shoes. You know what I do with it? I take a piece and heat it in the fire until it is red, almost white with the heat. Then I hammer it unmercifully to shape it as I know it should be shaped. Then I plunge it into a pail of cold water to temper it. Then I heat it again and hammer it some more. And this I do until it is finished.
But sometimes I find a piece of iron that won’t stand up under this treatment. The heat and the hammering and the cold water are too much for it. I don’t know why it fails in the process, but I know it will never make a good horse’s shoe."

He pointed to a heap of scrap iron that was near the door of his shop.......
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“When I get a piece that cannot take the shape and temper, I throw it out on the scrap heap. It will never be good for anything.”
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He went on ......... “I know that God has been holding me in the fires of affliction and I have felt His hammer upon me. But I don’t mind, if only He can bring me to what I should be. And so, in all these hard things my prayer is simply this:
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TRY ME IN ANY WAY YOU WISH, LORD, ONLY DON'T THROW ME ON THE SCRAP HEAP."
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-Unquote
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Great story, isn’t it? 

God's attention on us simply means that He cares. Oh I know it's an odd way of caring, to our puny human understanding. I had some trouble with that too. It isn’t easy – especially if you’re hurting real bad. That’s a huge Ouch-Ouch!! But as hard as that is to understand, it is THE explanation to our 'why me?!' --- a question we so often pose to GOD. 

BUT have we tried, even for just a moment, to imagine what we would be without God? Yup, maybe right there on that unfortunate scrap heap. 

And have we also tried to imagine what we would be or have become with God? The answer to that is ---- the best we could ever be.... and that work isn't even finished yet. Imagine the exciting possibilities and potential when HE's done with us. It can be awesomely mind- boggling!

More trials? Yet is there a life without one!? Let’s try to see it this way (we can always learn, di ba?) ------- What are they but simply God's loving and undivided attention upon you and me and everybody who believes. HE is making us even better (believe this) --- worthy of life and of Heaven. By God's design. Whom God loves he disciplines. Like a mother disciplines her child with the intent of seeing her child grow into a fine human being. Gold is made better when passed through the furnace or fire.

Hard to take that? Well, maybe it's time to try to see things from the eyes and heart of God. -- God THINKS you are special. God SEES you as special! The reason why He gives you His full attention and care. .God works not to harm you but only to make you better. (Check out the poster on Jeremiah 29:11)

YOU are SPECIAL! And GOD LOVES YOU SO MUCH!
Blessings to you all!

PERSEVERE TO THAT END OF A NEW BEGINNING

Oh he never misses! I meant my online friend who always sends me quotes with special instructions that I write. But I tell him that stuff like this are open to interpretations as whatever experiences a person comes up with in his own life journey. Because only when one can see himself in it does he eventually take it for his own. And thus ...do I write. Thanks for this quote, buddy!

"People do not always make breakthroughs because they refused to quit. Sometimes they make them because they know when to quit. When they realize that enough is enough, that old patterns aren't serving them, that it's time to repack their bags."
(Richard J. Leider)

That's a good one. But are we really willing to let of old patterns? Even if we see how they serve more to block us from moving forward with our lives. Some do, some don't, and some take a wee bit longer to decide. We all fall in one or two of those categories. We each have our reasons I believe.

To make sense of our lives at whatever point we find ourselves in, we must learn to sit back and see it for what it is. Objective may be a hard word to use in this, I think, because one can't truly be objective when things are happening to self. But as a friend once said ... 'that's the point when you just have to push yourself harder to step back and reevaluate'.

Well, each of us has his or her own way of going about this. We each as an individual would know what would work for us and not. But it's wisdom to know and understand that change won't happen unless we make room for it. If we need and desire a breakthrough in our life, we need to give it some space to happen. And we can only do that if we learn to let go of old patterns that serve us no more. Of what use is holding on if it no longer is the blessing it's supposed to be?

Change may be slow but given time will eventually take us there to where we individually want to belong. That place where wonderful blessings can and will happen and where our joy is complete. Persevere to that end of a new beginning.

May God bless us all with increased faith, courage, and strength.... and the wisdom to use it.

STICK-TO-ITIVENESS

‘Stick-to-itiveness’ – that’s a word Mom would freely use when reminding me of my goals. She’d say ‘be like glue and be sticky!’ She was kidding of course but she made sense I soon found out on my own when she passed away several years later.

It’s something like this. It’s determinedly focusing on something which you strongly believe in no matter what other people may say to the contrary. It’s working harder than the rest because you know well deep inside that it’s all going to be worth your blood, sweat, and tears someday. It’s pushing the button even harder when friends say you should give it up. It’s trusting in yourself and in what you are capable of even if they say that you can’t or never can. It’s strongly believing in possibilities and potential and that this could happen to you -- Because, to quote Mom, ‘whatever you give fully from your heart and soul the universe in its wisdom will give back to you in full measure too’.

Goals and dreams are not easy to pursue… whatever they are or whatever size they may be, big ones -- small ones. You’d be up against all known resistance or conflict and impediment that all seem to conspire to get you off the track or make things so hard for you that you’d begin thinking of shifting gears and taking another road – an easier one. I often wondered just where these difficulties real or imagined come from. They usually crop up when least expected or least needed. But then again Mom would say ‘they’re there to see if you got the stuff to follow your dream’. Oh they do huh?! Well, I told Mom with the best bravado I could muster ‘this is one person who won’t buckle down with the slightest difficulty’. Mom would simply smile to that (and that made me feel quite uneasy). Why do mothers always see through their children?! And so to make a long story short -- I persevered doggedly, determinedly, persistently, resolutely, tenaciously, and whatever-else-you-may-call-it but which should mean ‘stick-to-itiveness’ in Mom’s dictionary. But I did get there (…to some of my goals; am working still on the rest) and I’ve loved that word ever since…using it like I use my toothbrush everyday. Next to God, Mothers know best.

Consider the postage stamp, my son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one thing till it gets there." -- Josh Billings

(That's Maxie in the picture there, the youngest of our three dogs. She sure can teach you what 'determination' means. lols :-) Yeah, she succeeded to win a piece of Skittles from us.)