Men Are Pigs

“Tears are words that need to be written.”
~ Paulo Coelho

I don’t come to this conclusion lightly. I was raised to know no better where men are concerned. Had I had one positive influential man in my life maybe I wouldn’t have formed this harsh position.From a very young age men treated me like their toy.

My mother used to meet my dad at a bar after work on occasions, occasions meaning two or three times a week. In one instance I wanted to play the pinball machine but the age limit was sixteen and I was about nine.

A man my father worked with said I could play with him. Little did I know that he meant literally. As I watched my mother and father smoking, laughing and drinking from their barstools, I approached Ken at the pinball machine not five feet away. I just wanted not to be bored in the bar!

I stood at the pinball machine and Ken stood straddling behind me readying himself to show me how to play. My hands on the buttons right and left, Ken’s hands on top of mine. I felt something hard in my back like a pool stick jabbing me, I wriggled and squirmed but thought it was just a pain in my back. It wasn’t.

I lost the game and Ken offered me another quarter, if I reached in his pocket to get it out. I thought nothing strange by that request so I went fishing. I couldn’t find a quarter; he pressed my hand firmly into him and the pool stick that was in my back, surfaced in his pocket.

I tried pulling my hand out immediately upon feeling flesh, but he was bigger and stronger pressing harder and harder my hand into his penis. He whispered, “Get the quarter baby, get the quarter.”

My eyes of fear darted to my mother and father, laughing, singing and my mother’s eyes caught mine. I looked at her as if to scream, HELP ME! Something wet was now in his pocket with a hole and my hand was released and I ran to the stool behind my mother.

“What’s the matter? You don’t like pinball?”

Tears were welling in my eyes and I said I had to go to the bathroom. She wouldn’t let me walk all the way in the back, through beer drinking drunks, so she said she’d go too.

“Don’t tell your father! He’ll kill him.” That’s what I was told after I told my mother when she kept insisting something was wrong after many days of my feeling violated. I saw the man many times after that but never again did I play pinball when he was in the bar. She knew something was wrong, knew something had happened that night, and after I finally broke down and told her, she said, ‘don’t tell’!!!

Isa.27: 11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

I wanted him dead but I remained silent. Tell no one. That is what I learned when men were abusive pigs to me, even if the pig was my own brother throwing me on the bed demanding me to ‘rub his balls.’ Don’t tell!

Man after man relentlessly tried, none was ever again going to be successful in breaking me; that is until… I would never see men as the upstanding pillar of strength. That bond was broken after years and years of immoral behavior being displayed by men. Porn is what men were about. My brothers loved looking at naked women, they loved masturbating and being self-fulfilled. Men thought of women as whores who belonged in bondage and enjoyed seeing them in bondage too. This was my childhood shaping of men.

How many times had my brother stood at the foot of my bed, playing with himself as I lay sleeping? Waking up and being yelled at was not an option. Tell no one!

Isa.32:9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

After the advent of the internet, men could now feed their lusts more easily. But I’ve noticed men don’t stop at ogling women, they’re pigs and a naked girl of sixteen, eighteen, or twenty is just as satisfying as a woman with falsified breast. I think of the GROWN men who make comments about a very young and undefiled child like LeeAnn Rimes or Taylor Swift saying, “Man, she’s hot! I’d like to…” You get my meaning, right?

Nowadays, the media feeds us the degradation of women, and children being raised now feel this is how women are. Women are whores waiting to be taken by men and shown who’s boss.

Rom. 1: 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Magazine cover after magazine cover, airbrushed women after airbrushed women, tv shows, cheerleaders and scantily clad children are being forced in our face and no one, not even the President is doing one thing about it. Man has lost my respect.

Titus 2: [3] The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;[4] That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

Women need attention and man has showed them that if you’re half naked, you’ll get their attention. Do you wonder why I trust no one? Even after I became a born again Christian, I asked God to show me men who could be respected and trusted, just as recently as four or five years ago, He’s showed me a few.

Thank you Jesus! Now come and wipe the leftovers off the face of the earth. They are not here for me to judge! Their sin is not MY sin. (my new mantra)

Luke 18: 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

Trust No One

Pss. 25:2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

Yeah, this was said numerous times on X-Files, but this was my motto years before X-Files came along! I just don’t trust very easy because I have been fed lies all of my life, never allowing me to open up and place trust in anyone.

I couldn’t trust the Catholic Church, they denied me my confirmation; a confirmation that I was the first in my family ever to be denied. I couldn’t trust my brothers and sister; they were too busy feeding me cigarettes and pot to keep the baby blabber-mouth quiet. I couldn’t trust my mother and father; they were too busy dragging me, the baby of the family, from bar to bar while they filled their need. (Wonder where I picked up the habits?) I couldn’t trust the very few friends that I had because they were too busy stabbing me in the back.

So who did I have to trust as a child? I’ll tell you quite frankly, it was God! He was the only one that I could put my trust in and not once did He ever let me down. Not once! This is why my faith became solidified. I had found that I could trust no one but I could always trust Him.

Ruth 2:12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Now if any of my family members were to read this blog, they’d sit in shame of all my tales but they know them to be true, but yes, they are ashamed. They are like the ostrich sticking their heads in the sand, struggling through life but never getting it off their chest harboring ill feelings to each and every family member left surviving.

I am the baby of six children. I have four brothers and a sister and only one of us made it out somewhat sane, but he too has his own issues, his own view of the truth. They all say I was spoiled and given everything. I was the baby, I was taken everywhere because I was too young to stay home alone and have parties.

By the time I was ten my oldest brother was turning 20, served in the marines, married and out and about in life. The next in line brother was 19 hanging out at the house smoking pot and greens that permeated the entire house drawing a blind eye from my drunken parents who were in bed. My next two brothers all suffered their own delusion and couldn’t wait to get out, but the youngest of the brothers wanted to molest his sisters first before becoming a sofa sleeping lazy bum. He went on to a better life with marriage an illegitimate daughter and a nice house, but all my family is about possessions.

Pss. 16: 1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

They let me down. Trust was broken and even in my twenty-year marriage, where I trusted my husband; he too let me down and still does to this day with the neglecting of his now almost 18 year-old son.

Gee, I can’t figure out why I trust no one, can you?

I looked out at the intimidating world wanting to be out there and that is what I did, left my hometown, my husband, and shacked up with a man living in Texas. Granted my parents have been married almost 60 sixty years, two of my brothers have long marriages, my two eldest brothers both have failed marriages and one is a squatter living home to home drug addict, while my eldest brother is in Tennessee somewhere trying to look normal.

And still, I go on after ten years with this man and still, trust no one but my Lord and Savior.

Pss.18: 2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

REVIVAL

Job 8: 19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

I’ve decided to open this blog back up and share my stories and journey with you. It may not be in the ‘story of my life’ style, but take note, they are stories of my life and where the journey is leading me.

A friend said something on her FB (facebook) wall that got me to thinking. She said:

“When you concentrate on others and reach out to help them, your own problems get smaller. Think outward toward others not inward toward self. God will take care of you if you are His child.” ~ Debbie (last name to remain hidden for privacy matters)

I replied that this was my life’s mission. Then the writing muse in me attacked! I felt compelled to write! (Thanks Deb!)

I thought back to a time when I was young; I was about 18, when this ‘caring for others’ took over my psyche and changed me for the better. “God will take care of you if you are His child.” Those words rang in my head like a morning Church bell. It called me to write and explain how it became my ‘life mission’ to think of others and not myself.

I had lost my one grandparent (Grandmom Z to lung cancer) three days before my eighth birthday and two months later her husband slipped away in a silent slumber of grief for the wife he had lost. Not easy to take for an eight yr. old kid.

About ten years later my living grandfather had rented my husband and I an apartment, and not long after, he passed away. (Yes I was married at seventeen.) Anyway, it left behind my one living grandparent, so I felt compelled to be close to her. She was my only living grandmother! And although she wasn’t the endearing type of ‘let’s make cookies’ or ‘let me shower you in love’, she was my only living grandmother and it was overwhelming me to help her.

John 12: 29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

This is where my journey began in helping others. I would go down to my grandmothers house once a week and clean for her, and in God fashion, He sent me others to help. Now keep in mind I was almost penniless. My husband rarely liked to work, we were selling weed to make money to pay bills, and I was trying to ward off my enemy, the bottle, at the same time.

 Yes, I began drinking at an extremely young age and by twenty I was a full-blown alcoholic and drug addict. My life didn’t change until I put others before my self-serving self!

1 Thes. 5: 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

I quit drinking and doing drugs at 21. An odd age since that was when I became a child who could legally drink. My duties for my grandmother would pay me twenty dollars to clean, and for two hours I would work my butt off washing windows, scrubbing the floor, tub and toilet. I was putting her before myself.

Then Ms. Gerdy happened. A 100 yr. old woman who lived alone and had no one to really care for her. I would clean her house, in 100 degree heat and be sent home with a dollar for my efforts. It was the best dollar I ever made. She had no money, unlike my grandmother who had hundreds of thousands, and Ms. Gerdy would hand me that dollar and I felt like I had accomplished something in that day with her. She never went behind me saying, “You missed a spot, you missed a spot,” like my grandmother did weekly!

Prov. 21: 20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.

Ms. Gerdy, an honest to goodness Christian woman who had nothing, made me feel like I had made a million bucks! I now had the mindset that helping others, BEFORE myself, had its rewards. Not monetary rewards either! God would step in and take care of me, if I thought of others rather than being a selfish woman.

The years passed, my grandmother passed, Ms. Gerdy passed and what did I get out of it, an immense hug from the Lord who watched over me and blessed me daily. Year after year my life was filled with blessings that no one understood (except me) where they came from.

I had now made it a mission to put others before myself, never seeking a reward but being blessed along the journey. What one man sees as worthless treasure, I see immense blessings from the Lord. That is my life to this day!

Luke 12: 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Her Homecoming...

Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

It was a blazing hot summer, but day after day we got closer and closer to grandmother coming home.  I’d watch as Gus, her big, built, strong black man was working her legs and arms. You have to understand something here, my grandmother grew up in an era where in her warped mind thought, that black people were lower life forms. I have never had a problem with people of a different color. I thought God did beautiful art work when he created humans all of a different hue.

But grandmother grew up with a strong hate for everything including, people of color! But here Gus was touching her and she’d call me aside as he went to get the stair climber ready, “He’s quite nice, isn’t he?” For the first time in a long time, my grandmother blushed!

Ps. 147: 3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

She was learning to trust the black mans strength, (the term African-American didn’t become politically correct for a few years after that). She had a chance to see for herself, that it isn’t the color that makes a person bad, its their actions. Grandmother for three months couldn’t wait each day to see Gus! I was there as she took her first step, and I knew it wouldn’t be long now.

Back home, decisions were being made for her, “What are we going to do with Mother? She’ll need 24 hr. care! She’ll need medicine, and most of all, she’ll need a bathroom built on the first floor, a daybed; things to make her life bearable, once she gets home.” Yes siree, they were on the ball and spending money like water. The bathroom was being built and as with all of my uncle’s projects, it was slow going! Yes he was being paid, so of course, he milked every minute of every day.

I continued my daily routine of visiting her, going to therapy with her, and did lots of things for her, that only women can do. One time she had slid down the bed and needed to get moved up, not wanting to bother the nurses she asked if Vince could do it, “Boy he lifted me like I was a feather.” There it was, the blushing face I’d come to know and love.

Ecc. 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

The day arrived for her to go home. Small problem, the house was not ready for her. Shocker there huh? My aunt said that she could stay with her, but getting her there (she lived outside the city in a single house dwelling). Now lets see, who could do get her to my aunts, up the steps and safely tucked in? Lets get Joni and Vince!

The day was one of tears and joy, because believe it or not, I had made quite a few friends while she was in the PT Hospital. I’d visit with Mr. John, give a big hello to all the ladies, even the nurses were happy to see me everyday, so the release date would be bittersweet. I’d never see them again. My aunt thought that I had developed a crush on Gus, and that is why I was crying, but she did not know ME, the compassionate hearted Christian woman. She only knew lil joni, and I would always be seen as that. She hadn’t gotten to know those people like I did, She visited once a week, if that.

Jer. 17: Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

My family knew how to cut me and didn’t care of the bloodshed, as long as I served their purpose. I took it because of my duty to my Lord, and my love for my grandmother. I would not let her down like her kids had let her down for so many years.  I would be there for her through thick and thin.

We got her to my aunts house and it was a few months before she came back to her own house, I went down and cleaned the entire place for her. We had it ready and waiting for her and it was *I* who helped get her into the house. Now..lets see..she had no one to stay the night, so plans had to be made. She wanted me to stay, and never having spent one day away from my home in my life, I stayed. I had been on this road with her all along so it only seemed right.  For a price they said... My goodness they (they, meaning my aunt and my grandmother) would not let me do anything without handing me money, even if I said no I didn't want it, my grandmother insisted! A twenty here, a twenty there, until I was under their claws and they knew it.

Everything changed...  and not for the better.

The Stroke...of Madness

We got the call in the early morning about ten. Backing up a few weeks, my grandmother was having signs of a stroke; headache, blurred vision, numbness, but she ignored it saying, “I have never been sick a day in my life. I don’t need a doctor like all those other old women at Bingo who are on every medication you can think of, I’m fine.” I made my aunt and my mother aware of the situation, but no one would listen to this child! “She’ll be fine,” they said shrugging me off. Until...
 
The phone rang and I could hardly understand my grandmother on the other end, “Thumthins wong” I heard her say, I motioned to Vince, who was home, he had no job.  She said, “Tum down here.” I told Vince to run down my grandmothers, something was seriously wrong and he immediately did. I kept my grandmother on the phone as he raced down the street, not far from where I lived, maybe forty rowhouses. Everything went so quick I don’t honestly know what happened.
 
Matt. 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
 
My uncle lived two doors from my grandmother (yes we all lived pretty close to one another) and Vince had run to grandmothers, my Uncle was leaving his house, saw Vince, and somehow, Vince came home and said, “She’s going to the hospital!” It’s all jumbled to me because this was the grandmother that I had learned to love after a childhood of her being uptight and far removed from all the grandkids, I felt I had finally gotten to know her and to LOVE her. And not for her money either and she knew this too, because I couldn’t tell you how many times I told her to spend every dime so her kids got NOTHING when she passed away. We’d always laugh about that. We had learned to love each other and it felt good to be loved by her, I’ll admit that.
 
But here she was, going the hospital. Turns out she had a stroke and was paralyzed on her left side. Vince and I would go to see her (we went that very day!), and she’d say, “Are you coming tomorrow?” Like a helpless babe, this pillar of my grandmother, lay there, reaching out, to me. “Of course, grandmom,” I whispered. And day after day, I was at the hospital, brushing her hair, bringing new housecoats, being a friend to her, when everyone else abandoned her. They of course were working on the “How much is this gonna cost.” While I was concerned with nurturing my grandmother back to health.
 
Mark 5: 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
 
Okay, so they visited when they could, but I was not going to let her go through this alone. I had finally gotten a grandmother and I would be darned if I was going to lose her!
 
They informed the family that she needed to go into a rehab hospital, Physical Therapy would help her learn how to walk again and to speak clearer. Her words, “Will you come with me?” brought tears to my eyes as I knew, this was a job that God  placed in my heart and wanted me to do. I was committed to God and anything He put in my path to do, I did, and this was not a job at all, this was my grandmother! Her family was concerned with, "What is this going to cost us."
 
Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
 
I rode in an ambulance for the first time in my life when they transported grandmother to the PT hospital. Her kids couldn’t get off of work to accompany her and asked if I would go with her. Of course! One of the hottest summers in Baltimore, I spent every single day (except Sundays) going to Physical Therapy with my grandmother, learning the exercises, so  when she’d finally come home, she could continue to do the work. I would be right there with her.

Next up... her homecoming

~ Greed ~

Prov. 15:27 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.

***

I learned about greed early on when I saw the way people acted in parting with their money, holding onto their money, and watching people share their money.
 
My grooming was at a pivotal time of growth in my life. I was a young girl overcoming addictions, I was seeking God through the scripture and on a daily basis, He showed me His power, strength and might, which laid for me a solid foundation on which to follow. When hard times hit, and there were many, I never strayed, I remained firm and as people looked on, their daggers went through me but there was no blood coming forth from the wounds. I was empowered by the Word.
 
My husband was bouncing around from job to job never finding the right one for him. We had moved into one of my grandfathers apartments right across the street from my mother, actually it was the first apartment my mother had lived in too, ‘coincidentally’, and when my grandfather who loved my husband to bits, passed away, my grandmother who loved Vince too, allowed us to move into one of the other properties, right next door to my mother and father. She was apprehensive, thinking my mother and I would not like the setup, but my mother, who happened to be one of my best friends, assured her, we could all get along, and for thirteen years, we did!
 
I have so many tales to tell, miracles to share, blessings in my life, but for now I want to share this one.
 
1 Tim 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
 
The house was run down and beaten up pretty bad and we went in and painted, laid new tile, beautified the place so we could get in there to live. Grandmother was tapping her fingers because she said she’d pay for the paint, but we were pretty much improving a run down property. She would rent it to us for seventy dollars a week for the duration that we lived there. This was a blessing, for a price. You see, when my grandfather passed, grandmother found out that he had had a secret that he couldn’t carry to the grave. He was worth very close to one million dollars!
 
Mark 10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Isa. 56: 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

The scavengers of the family moved in like cockroaches in the dark. My two uncles wanted her to buy them a bar, my aunt wanted to have complete control, my mother just wanted something she never had in her life, her debt to be paid in full. Six kids all wanted a little bit of something. As the months would go on, I would begin my duty as a house cleaner, and the sons would get their bar, they would renovate my grandmothers house under the watchful eye of my aunt who had control of the funds, and grandmother would live with my aunt while the work was done.
 
1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
 
Thousands and thousands of dollars were being spent. My grandmother came home to her newly renovated home, a new and different person. She had an air about her that my only explanation could be, was greed had her by the hair and was not letting her go. My husband had worked for my uncle in the reno job, but his son (my cousin) got in the way and my hubby was out. The whole family was hovering like vultures, protecting their one-day-to-be inheritance. Greed had pierced their souls and I had to bear witness.
 
I wanted nothing from my grandmother but the roof over my head, and when I refused taking pay for my house cleaning, my grandmother insisted that she pay! I was now not only her tenant, but her hired hand. Twenty bucks a week was like gold to me. Sometimes it was the only meal that we’d get that day because good old Vince was not one to keep a job.
 
Luke 22:5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.
 
I had sold my soul to the vultures. Oh dear Lord what have I done. I worked at the bar as a short order cook, still cleaned house for my grandmother, and was getting paid. Dirty money in my hands, I let it leave my hand as soon as I got it. Should a recovered alcoholic work in a bar? Well, I don’t recommend it, but I was strong in my faith, and for some reason, God had wanted me here at this time. I was taken advantage of, being asked to work weird hours, scrub floors, toilets, cook food, you name it. But it was work and I needed to work to keep my sanity.
 

Ex.5:9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.
 

Prov. 10: 16 The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.
 
Vince was sure to keep a close eye on me as he always did, in his obsession with me, he would stop by every job I had, to make sure I was where I said I was so no one would ‘hurt’ me. I saw this as his indebted love for me; I was young and naive and in love. Alone in my own world, he was all I had that I could trust.
I’ll pause here and pick back up to when my grandmother had a stroke.
 
Is. 49:4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

The Light Within

I often have heard many people say to me, “You have a light that shines from you.” What are they seeing in me? Is there a glow or something about me that makes me special? I think what they are seeing is God’s light shining forth from me. I’m not saying this as an ego trip, I’m just trying to figure out things out for myself. Not everyone that believes in God, or calls themselves Christian has a light. It takes a lot of refining. Have you ever been speaking to someone that just has their heart glowing, their soul shining, the piercing eyes that can see deep into the wellspring of your soul? Few and far in between, but they’re out there! 
 
Not every Christian I’ve met has the Light shining forth from them, but they’re struggling on the right path to acquiring it, and so all I can do is offer any assistance in guiding them with hopes they begin walking in the right direction as I comfort them with my testimony, my rocky path, and my mountainous journey. It is not up to me who is in my path on this journey, it is those that choose to hear my word, and take my testimony as a true and well lit path. If you are reading this, then you are in my path for a reason.
 
Eph. 5:1-2  Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
 
Titus 1:8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
 
Some may never read this, some will and enjoy the words. Some may turn a blind eye and think I’m just a bunch of hokey. But know this, this is the story of my life. Are we all here just to live and die? Do you wake up every morning with no real purpose in life? God has created you with a definite purpose in mind, and if you feel you have no purpose and are getting nowhere, then you need to look into your soul and see what God’s purpose is for you.
 
4 Ezra 5: 37 Open me the places that are closed, and bring me forth the winds that in them are shut up, shew me the image of a voice: and then I will declare to thee the thing that thou labourest to know.
 
Did you know that a silversmiths job is to hold a piece of silver over the fire to let it heat up? In refining silver, one needs to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are hottest so as to burn away all the impurities. Always keeping a watchful eye on the silver as it is heated, because if his eyes stray for even a brief moment, the whole piece will be destroyed! It is important to be watchful of the molten metal as it does not help the process when it is overheated.  It may not destroy the silver, but silver has an affinity for absorbing oxygen and this can make it unworkable.
 
Malachi 3:3 "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
 
How does a silversmith know when the silver is fully refined? When he sees his image reflected in it. Clean molten silver will shine with a mirror-like quality when it is ready to pour.
 
1 Cor. 15: 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
 
2 Cor. 3: 8 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
 
Isn’t that amazing? When we are in the hottest portions of finding our faith, God has you in His hand and is just waiting to see His image in you, then He knows you are fully refined. You have followed Him, washed away all the impurities of the fleshly man, and have come to Him refined and ready to walk the path of the righteous. To God you are precious silver, to man, they see His image in you. The Light of the Lord will shine forth from EVERYone, when they are refined. That is some great news and HOPE in a hopeless generation!

I’ll leave you with this:
 
Mal. 4: 1-6 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.