The Art of Refining

Malachi  3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant  about the character and nature of  God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the  group at their next Bible Study.

That week,  the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.   

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman  thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about  the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

  

She asked  the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.  

  

The man  answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had  to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be  destroyed.

The woman  was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy, when I see my image in  it"

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Lord, Save Us From Ourselves

 I saw a statistic the other day that made me want to cry. The numbers 24, 43, and 14 are important to remember. The number 24 represents the percentage of girls who get abortions that say they are Catholic, 43 is the percentage of girls that say they are Protestants and 14 is the percentage that say they are born again/evangelical. Add those numbers together and you get 71%!!  That is a huge number of girls getting abortions that are suppose to know the love of Christ. That hurts! What happened? Now, I can't say for sure why the percentage is so high, but I have ideas. When I used to help out with the youth at church, 2 girls became pregnant. I wasn't thrilled but I stilled loved them. Unfortunately, there were a few in the church who told the girls they were going to hell.

Another time, I was still a leader at church, I was (and still am) friends with a girl who 'danced' for a living. The youth pastor told me I should no longer be friends with her. Why, you ask? Because my association with her would 'look' bad and it wasn't good for the youth.

You're probably asking yourself, "Why is Jennie sharing these things?" Simple. These are examples of why the world has a hard time accepting Jesus loving them when the corporate church doesn't really show love. Sometimes, we (as a church) forget that a sin is a sin is a sin is a sin, etc. All sins, except for one, are on a level playing field in God's eyes. Why are we subjecting people to a life without knowing God because we curse them? Why can't we love them?

If Jesus can save me & God made everything possible, we should want to share that with EVERYONE!!! Peace & Blessings to all!

The Gift of Life

Today is the first day of the trial of Kermit Gosnell. A 'doctor' that snipped the spinal cords of babies that survived abortions. I can't tell you how much that sickens me. 

#1 ~ Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath upon graduation. Its a code of ethics. Did he forget 

         them? 

#2 ~ Babies are defenseless. He & his staff willing killed them, then joked about it!

#3 ~ What kind of sicko keeps limbs of those he killed as souvenirs?

Those are just a few things that are going though my mind. Here's another.

My mother was pregnant 15 times. I was her third live birth and also her last. She miscarried twelve times.

My mother sacrificed the first 15 years of marriage on the wanting of a family. For 15 years in a row, she was pregnant at some point. I remember she told me when she was pregnant for my oldest brother, that they were going to adopt a young boy. I believe she told me his name was Juan. The adoption never went through. I forgot why. Probably for the best though, because a few months later, my brother John was born. Three years later, my brother Bob was born. Then six more years after that, I was born. There was much rejoicing.

I'm always amazed by my mother's love. She mourned for a while for the children that were never born, but rejoiced louder for the 3 children she had.

I will never understand why women with healthy reproductive organs would pay to have someone ruin them. There are so many women who physically ache to because they can't bear children. It boggles their minds that someone would throw these precious gifts of life away because of inconvenience.

Which begs the question:

If you are pro-choice and decide to get an abortion, where's the line? 

I'm not trying to be be flippant or sarcastic, I'm asking an honest question. When does the life growing in your womb become a baby to you? And if you never wanted the child, will you ever see it as living being? 

I see every baby as a gift. Not only as a gift of life, but a gift of opportunity. Each life holds so much potential. It can go beyond the parents' wildest dreams.

Hard to Assimilate

Just like the Doctor, Rose, & Mickey Smith, I refuse to assimilate.

Granted the assimilation that is asked of me is not like that of a Cyberman, but still they want me to change my thought pattern. You see, I belong to a labor union.

I joined the union about 6 1/2 years ago. When I first joined no one made a big deal of it, we were just a union. You pay your dues, go to a monthly meeting, and do your best at work. Then two years ago, it started to change.

I noticed that the union was beginning to become more forceful, more intimidating.

Every month, we get a local newsletter. It has articles from each businesses bargaining chairperson, retiree chairperson, president of the local, and political cartoons. 

Here are some examples of the cartoons:

  
Signs went up. Every Wednesday we are to wear red. If you want to pay $10, the union has red shirts with their logo & motto on it so you have something red to wear. I refuse. I don't even wear any red shirt to work any day of the week. I don't want them to get ideas. Yet, every Wednesday, at my shift meeting, I get harassed because I'm not wearing red.

I was asked to go to Black Lake. That's my union's "education center". I said no, because its way up north & it was winter. The real reason, its an indoctrination center. You sit in 'class' for 6-8 hours a day, learning how great the union is. They sing Solidarity Forever every day to people can recite it on cue. No thanks. I've seen how people came back from there. They take good, hard workers & make them whiny, lazy ones.

During the campaign, Obama/Biden buttons were handed out. One was accepted on my behalf. In other words, before I had a chance to say no thanks, someone said yes for me. I found during this time, it would be really bad to outed as anything but an Obama supporter. 

Shortly after the election, there was a Right to Work protest rally in Lansing. I had to go! Can I just say, "WOW"? We met at the regional hall before leaving. We were told there that our fearless leaders didn't even know what was in the Right to Work bill, but we're protesting it anyway! While on the bus, a legal pad went around for us to put our information down on in case we got arrested for civil unrest. I knew then, I had to keep a lot of my opinions to myself. They were prepped for battle & I was alone. 

For as much as they fought that day, the bill was passed. They yelled for days. "We're going to sue!" "Snyder did this illegally!" "They can't union bust us!" Yet, on the day that Right to Work became legal, nothing was heard from the shop floor. *crickets*

How does this happen, you say. Easy. The rank & file of the union only get upset when they're told to get upset. They are told not to snitch on each other. They are told you get paid by the hour, not by the part. These are the rules. Can't get upset because you'll get reminded. Get reminded too much, a target appears on your back.

Like I said, I've been a part of this union for 6 1/2 years. I have yet to assimilate. My work ethic is too strong.