Hey friends –
Welcome back to 31 Days to Fire Up Your Faith! We may be on Day 27, but you can start from the beginning here!
In yesterday’s post, we explored the question—
“How do you allow God to fire up your faith in the midst of a season of pain, disappointment, and/or despair?”
We’ve all been there, right?
Whether we are young or old, Christian or non-Christian, married or single, rich or poor — all of us will experience seasons where we feel as if we are in the “refiner’s fire.”
But I believe —
Y’all know I like to keep things real around here.
I don’t ever want my cheerful smile to mislead you, so yesterday I introduced you to my “Fiery Spring Season of 2014,” and confessed devastating details led to my marriage becoming a flat-out miserable mess.
Friends, I didn’t think we were going to make it.
So when the pressures of life intensify, what do we do? How do we withstand the heat?
Y’all know I don’t have all the answers — thankfully He does — but here are two important life lessons I learned—
- Lesson # 1 — Cling to God’s Promises (recap here) — including the song that God used to save my marriage
- Lesson # 2 — Call a Faith-filled friend
Aren’t you so glad we are not meant to journey alone?
Do you have 2-3 friends you can call/text anytime day or night — and they will get on their face in prayer for you?
I do.
And I did.
In the midst of my miserable mess, I called a sweet Texas friend who has walked the hard path I was now required to journey.
Through my shock and sadness, tears and terror, I rambled. I was raw. And then I awkwardly asked, “What do I do? I can’t even function. Please tell me what to do next.”
Y’all — her six powerful words changed everything for me.
You know what she said?
“Cindy, you need to forgive him…”
You have to know this was the absolute last thing I wanted to hear. I wasn’t ready to forgive, nor did I want to. Nope — not gonna happen. Forgive? I’d rather keep fuming! I had a right to be stinkin’ mad!!!
Forgiveness would require way more faith than this broken-hearted, devastated woman could muster.
Later that night, after more tears and long conversations, I remembered the lesson on forgiveness I recently heard at Bible study. I decided I’d at least pull out my new forgiveness handouts.
Friends, it’s in the “fire” that our faith becomes red-hot!
….final installment tomorrow….
NOTE: Please know, my Texas friend knew although I was broken-hearted, I was safe. If you are faced with circumstances in your life and you are not safe — physically or emotionally — PLEASE call a friend, counselor, church friend, or hotline for HELP. Promise?
Today’s Challenge : Day 27 of our 31 Days
1. Grab your Fire Up My Faith notebook. Spend time in prayer, then journal any thoughts/insights from this post. Look up the following and ask God to teach you more about His refining fire:
- Psalm 66:10-12
- Isaiah 48:10-11
- Daniel 12:10
- Zechariah 13:0
2. Are you memorizing a new Scripture verse this week? If so, jot your verse on an index card and then please share God’s promise with us.
3. If you are not currently memorizing Scripture, yippee! Let’s do this together! 1 Peter 1:7 would be a great one to memorize this week!
‘Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of His victory.” —1 Peter 1:7 MSG
4. In the comments section, please say “I’m in!” if you will join us in memorizing one of God’s promises this week, and share what verse you are memorizing.
Bonus challenge: take a picture of where you are memorizing your verse and post it on my FB page here.
Here’s some samples —
Verse at work
Verse in the car
Verse in the bathroom
Thanks so much for stopping by 31 Days to Fire Up Your Faith! It’s a JOY to journey with you, dear friend! We’re almost to the finish line of 31 days. Can we can do this? Yes, we can!
Sweet blessings
P.S. My Bible study — Red Hot Faith: Lessons from a Lukewarm Church— is going to be offered as an on-line study with Ignite Women this fall! Woo Hoo!
Starting October 29th, you can participate in Red Hot Faith (including watching the DVD teaching sessions) from the luxury of your own home through Ignite Women. Paulette Stafford Stamper & her team will be facilitating the online study each Wednesday night. And guess what else? In honor of Ignite Women’s national launch, they are offering free membership through November 30th.
If you know anyone who might benefit from this amazing opportunity, please feel free to share. For more info go to www.IgniteWomen.com. 
Forgiveness is often the last thing I want to do because somehow the anger makes me feel righteous and protected. But that is such a LIE. I am just as much as sinner as the person who hurt me and that anger? That anger does nothing but weigh me down. There is such freedom in forgiveness. You can forgive even when you still hurt, even when you still have to process through things. And when it feels like I simply cannot forgive, I pray this: Lord, I forgive! Help me to forgive! So similar to what the man said in Mark: “I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!”
Amen, Jen, Amen! You nailed it, friend! xoxo
Cindy, thank you for being so open with us. When I first became a Christian there were people who I held up high. They were these “Super Christians” and I was this lowly peon.
What I’ve discovered over the years is that the people who have been open and shared about their imperfections are more faithful than the ones who appear to be “Super Christians”.
Knowing that these faithful women in Christ also struggle with reading the Bible and praying has been a huge gift to me. God is in our struggles. And the more we share those struggles with others the more we can see Him!
I love the verses about His refining fire. I had to look up Isaiah 48:10-11 in another version. I didn’t grasp the NIV version. The NLV version was very clear to me:
I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. I will rescue you for my sake— yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!