DIAMOND IN THE DIRT II

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

This is a true story. This lady, as a child, almost lost her parents in a divorce. Nine years later, she was married but lost her husband to death's icy fingers, leaving her with four little children to raise. A couple years later, her mother passed on. After her mother died, she remarried but went through trials with her in-laws. Not long after, her father, brother, and brother-in-law died of cancer. As if that was not enough pain already, she experienced the death of her child to illness. And currently, she also has another sick child. Both her and her husband have been fired on their jobs, twice.

Charles Spurgeon said, "Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of." trials are inevitable in life, God allows it to come your way to build you. With trials, you become wiser. You learn more about yourself and the people surrounding you. Yes, sometimes your trials might seem too much. Yet, know that, God is in it with you.

YOUR WORTH DETERMINES YOUR PAIN 2; THE BREAKING

"A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Yesterday, I began to talk about, "Your Worth Determines Your Pain". We are using gold as the object of discussion in likeness to man's worth. Like gold, we're precious and invaluable, but we MUST have to go through the PROCESS to arrive at the PALACE. Hence, our trials, so we can attain our true worth.

When gold ore is mined, it is very undesirable, and hence outwardly appears worthless, and unattractive. That it LOOKS unattractive in it's unrefined state doesn't change the fact that it's still gold. It'll remain worthless until it has been refined. The first step in the refining process, I want us to consider is; The Breaking.

The refiner begins by breaking up the "rough" ore. It is hardened rock, encased with unwanted minerals that reduce the value of gold. The breaking process is necessary to begin the refining process. The Breaking, is to expose the highly valuable gold hidden in the rocky ore. Even though that rock has valuable, and rare attributes, no one will value it, because in that state, its worth is within - it's hidden.