Refined

While rummaging through thrift stores and antique stores, I've heard so many people say "I gonna do...this...with it," with whatever treasure they've found.  I'm just in awe of how people can see what it could be instead of just seeing it as it is.  I'm not like that...maybe it's because I'm left-brained. 

God can see it...and for that, I'm so thankful.

There's a passage in 1 Samuel that talks about finding a new King.

Samuel would be anointing the man that God had indicated to him.

Each man that was brought before Samuel wasn't the man that God wanted.

When they brought the boy from the field, the Lord told Samuel that he was the one.

In the chapter 16, verse 7b it says,

"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'"

God sees what we can be.

He sees what is inside of us.

He sees our potential.

Sometimes it takes a little refining...tests, trials, struggles.

God will use whatever it takes for us to grow closer to Him.

Psalm 66:10--

For you, God, tested us;

    you refined us like silver.

Sometimes I just don't get it.

Sometimes I totally miss the mark.

Sometimes it takes me more than one time in the same trial.

But in the end, what I learned is a valuable lesson.

What I learned can help refine me into that beautiful person that the Lord sees in me...even when no one else can see it right now.

And those lessons...the ones that help make me more beautiful...

Those will make gorgeous accessories for my personality.

2 Corinthians 5:17--

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

**P.S.  This was an old picture frame that I found at Goodwill on Saturday...but I didn't see it as a picture frame. :)