During our first week here in the Philippines, one of our coaches, Gary Black, spoke with us a great deal about our faith and going deeper in that faith with Christ.  The majority of His talks centered on spiritual gifts and the roles God calls us to play as a part of the body of Christ.  In His final talk with us, Gary spoke not only about gifts but also about our dedication to our walk with the Lord.  He challenged us to choose a material along with its refining process that would be an example of the refinement we wanted the Lord to do in our lives.  Gary challenged each of us to choose the material with the most in depth process, gold; however, he encouraged us to go before the Lord to decide whether or not He was calling us to ask for maximum refinement.  My initial thoughts when the challenge was placed upon us were “Of course I want gold”, but as I began thinking of what the refining process might entail, I began holding back from asking God to begin refining my faith. 

 

During the course of this first week of ministry, God has continued stretching me and often reminded me of Gary’s challenge.  As Satan’s attacks against me, my team and my family continue it is apparent to be that the refining process is already underway.  With several months of mission lying ahead, there is no room for a hesitant commitment to the Lord and to our faith.  Choosing the refining process of gold does not just mean committing a year of our life in service and following Christ, but committing our entire lives, no matter what the cost.  We will never know what the refining process might bring, but we CAN be assured that the Lord will never give us more than we can handle.  Furthermore, asking the Lord to refine our faith through an in depth refining process ends with our lives looking more like that of Christ.