Are you in the Middle?

I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' " Zechariah 13:9


Based on everything I am reading right now, I feel like God is preparing me for some "firey trials" Do you ever feel that way? I keep reading devotions or excerpts from stories about how God refines us, purifies us through our trials. I'm not sure about you, but my first reaction is to resist them.

I relate those trials to something else that has seemed to repeat itself this week and that is, being in the middle. Seems like everyone I'm talking to right now is in the "middle" of something. What I've decided about the "middle" is that it is often a difficult place to be, if that is where we keep our focus.

I've spent much of the past two years in the "middle." It hasn't been until recently that I can appreciate that place and what God has done with me here. By being in the middle, as a single mom - not really single but not married, transitioning from one lifestyle to another and moving through seasons of life with my boys, I have had to trust God enough to know that He is working, even when I don't see or feel it and, often, when I don't understand His ways. Don't get me wrong, there have been many times that I've felt like I've been in the middle long enough and that God has somehow forgotten the desires of my heart so I've decided to forge ahead and get to the place that I want to be. What I have found is that often puts me right back on the other side, having to move back to middle until God calls me to move. And believe me, it is much more difficult the second time around! What I have learned about being in the middle, though, is that as tough as it can be, God is always working in order to prepare me for what HE has on the other side and God does nothing haphazardly. My job is to remain focused on Him and trust Him in that.

God has had to work extremely hard refining me - working out the fears that often paralyzed me, chipping away at the pride that kept me from seeing His best for me and healing the wounds that created strongholds in my life. I haven't always liked the process, but through it He is making me pure and making me in His image, allowing others to see His power and His glory in my life. I am not where I am today - happy, fulfilled, at peace - on my own. It is only through Him that I can stand on my own two feet and it is only through staying in the middle long enough for Him to work that I can move to the places He calls me.

Many of you are walking this journey today. I don't know what your "middle" is at this point but I urge you, sweet friends, to be still long enough, even when the fire feels too hot at your feet to allow Him to remove the impurities of fear, anxiety, pride, whatever stronghold it may be so that HE can shine brightly in you. I love you