Yesterday I had a dentist appointment to fill some cavity's and while laying in that chair I learned so much about refinement.
1. Refinement first requires us to be present for our appointment.
There is an ordained atmosphere in which transformation becomes optimal. So we can't try to "get right" in the wrong spaces. We have to position ourselves in the proper environment that will allow our needs to be addressed at the core.
2. The Refiner has to go beneath the surface.
Refinement required that the doctor went inside of me and cut some stuff out. But not only did they cut, they replaced some things, they filled the voids and the crevices with substance. So we have to be careful what substances we subsitute things for becuase this particular substance that was being placed inside my mouth, was one that would sustain the grind, bite, and gnawing of everyday life. When you're looking for a subsittue make sure it's something that is built to endure and in the face of everyday life.
3. Refinement requires loss & shedding
In the removal and renewal process, there is a cutting, a shaving that is done to create fertile groudn if you may. Similar to the sanding process that's done to wood before its primed, painted, and finished. Similar to God's clensing process [Zecheriah 13], He purifies us, refines us by fire and sends trials to test us, so that we may emerge assured in our idenity in Him. You've got to be prepared for some loss when you're going through the refining process.
4. The Refiner is a professional.
I can't just let anyone work on me because in the event I do so, I risk worsening the damage.
The Refiner sees what I can't see. The reason I'm in the chair in the first place, is because I was examined and diagnosed on a condition I could not detect on my own.
The refiner not only has the tools for the task, but they know how to use the tools. It's one thing to have pocession, but it's another to be a professional. It's not enough to just have access to resources, but do you have the ability to activate the resrouces - to where healing happens and not harm.
5. Refinement ain't always visible
I coulnd't see what was going on above me, but I felt the hands at work in me. I coulnd't see the results until the refinement process is over. So be patient becuase some of us are expecting to see the product before we've finished the process. You're not supposed to see it all. I caught glimses of the equipment hovering over my head, but I lowkey didn't even want to see what all they were using. If I saw how sharp the tools were, I would've probably jumped and tried to evade the expereince. But there's something graceful and loving in the way God can numb us. Y'all know what it's like to be numb - to not feel the full effect of your reality. I love it when God makes me numb, not when society makes me numb. I don't want to be numb to injustice and things that should really discomfort me. I want to be numb for the sake of renewed sensitivtiy and that's a word for someone today, the reason you're in the chair right now is because God is trying to restore your awarenes, your compassion, your mindufulness. Don't leave the doctor/dentist/refinement process, and keep moving the way you did before you got there. You've got to learn some lessons that'll make you adapt and evolve your lifestyle in accordance with your exposure.
6. Refiement has a frangrance and refiment has a sound.
Now I didn't really feel the pain becuase I was numbed, but I heard what was going on and I smelled it. I could smell the smoke flowing from the friction of tools on my teeth, like the residue of a saw shaving through wood, there was a scent in the air. I can still hear that wretched sound ringing through the room. Refinment is noisy, refinement is not always silent so don't associate being numb with being null. You're still a particpant in the transofrmation process. Refinement requires stillness, but stillness is an act of submission. It requires energy and attentiveness to stay still and open wide when directed. It rerquires that we give of ourselves and that we trust in the hands that are working on our behalf.
I would not have this mesage to share with you if I was not asking the question of why am I here in this seat, if I did not wonder what it was like for God to be behind the scenes speaking to me, if when I looked to my left and saw the assitant, I imagined her as grace, if when I looked to my right and saw the lead dentist I imagined her as mercy - one with power but careful with how she used it. If I didn't look through the people and look for God at work in the room, I wouldn't be writing to you right now.
7. Refinemnt is a gift and refinement is for our upbuilding.
Refinement is whenever the clay recognizes that it's in the potter's hands.
You're in God's hands, always.
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