Refiner's Fire

"For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver."
Psalm 66:9-11
 
 
Every couple of years Taylor needs new prosthetic eyes.  It used to be a heinous process of crying til she'd pass out, as I've said in the past.  Now it's just a day out of our schedule and we walk out with a shiny new pair of blue eyes.  Well, it's been that easy until this set of eyes. So far (and we're still going) we've made 5 visits to John to get this set just right.  They aren't quite there yet.  It's quite a job to get the pupils straight forward, the color matched perfectly, and the shapes to stay in place.  We've finally got one eye just right, but the other keeps moving upward so Taylor gets really frustrated knowing they don't feel right.   (At the moment, Taylor has one new eye in and one old one. It's pretty funny looking at her with mismatched eyes when John works so hard to get them to be exactly the same.) 
 
This process of getting things perfectly lined up reminds me of how we are always in a refining process with the Lord.  To the outside world, we may look just right, but we really know what's beyond the outward appearance and in our own hearts.  Often times, I realize that is where and why I need the Lord every day.  I may seem like everything is just fine, but there are struggles that rage within all the time. I am so thankful I can be honest with myself and ask God for strength to change those things so that I can be the REAL person He wants me to be and that I want to be. 
 
There is a song called "Refiner's Fire."  It says, "My heart's one desire is to be holy...set apart for you Lord.  I want to be set apart and refined until that final day when I reflect the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.