Not promised

It is a very much used misnomer that when you come to Christ that life is all about what you can get from God.  That everything will be all hunky dory, all flowers and sunshine.  Read through the comments of Paul and the truth of what it means to be a Christian is evident.  It's hard, but with the difficulty comes divine assistance. 

I have been facing a personal challenge of late that leaves me groaning inside.  I am very much thinking of part of MercyMe's song "Even If"

It's easy to sing
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now

I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul

I often have my music going, enjoying singing my offering to God. Not really caring who hears because it's for Jesus not necessarily for their enjoyment. 

With the success of this blog I was expecting struggles.  Old ones and new ones arriving.  Which certainly has been the case.  

I have been having some deep talks with Jesus about them.  I have seen where my path appears to be heading and I struggle with it. 

A leader of people I can be, but it's far from something that I enjoy.  To my viewpoint it brings out some of my worst characteristics.  To those whom I am over it's probably not as noticeable other than they will notice how fervently I defend and enable them to be successful.  Those to whom I am reporting to, tend to find out that 'no-nonsense' is my response to dealing with them. I tend not to mince words and tend to be very adamant when I know that I am right.  I also tend to note my displeasure at doing wasted efforts that do not contribute to the success of what we get asked to do. A filter on my tongue tends not to work so well.

Yet.

Yet it seems that God keeps bringing me back to this kind of situation.  I have been at many jobs in 6 years.  After some time at any I end up moving up in the scheme of things and they try to put me in some form of leadership. 

To me I don't know if I am facing an immovable mountain or just a lesson to be learned before the mountain is moved.

There is a difference.

If you read in various places in Scripture you find descriptions of being put to the fire.  Well consider those descriptions as a whole in their processes not individually.

A month or so ago I had come across someone's post of a story on what a silversmith goes through.  Let's break it down.

First is the temperature of the flame.
It has to be controlled at the right setting.
Second is the container.  It's held in a proper container to make the process work.  To transfer heat but not mess up the contents.
Thirdly is the person holding it. Patience is required.  A steady hand is required. Not given to anger, not given to falling for distractions.  Their eyes are always on the flame and the contents of the crucible.
Knowing exactly how long to wait once the silver is liquid is the sensitive part.  What once was hardened is now useful in the hands of the Master craftsman.  The dross is constantly removed until a purified product remains.  The Master Craftsman knows it's time to bring it out only when the silver reflects His image.

We are put to the flame many times in our lives. There's no randomness to it.  Jesus does nothing by random acts.  Everything is for a purpose.  We think we can mess up His plans, but we're not that good.

For us, the silver, these times in the crucible hurt.  We know we are going through something but unless we keep our eyes on Christ, we will lose out and may need to repeat this process again.

Which makes me wonder if this is either a test or just something to teach me something more.

So I will work through this as best as I can.  I am trying not to run back to the boat. Trying to keep my eyes on Christ.