Sand

While I was in Guatemala, we were building a bathroom and a septic tank for some of the people in the first village we stayed in. In order to build it we needed to make concrete. Unfortunately, in Guatemala, they do not have pre packaged cement mix. A huge huge load of sand was dropped off in front of the church we were building at. But this was not the kind of sand you dig your toes into at the beach...this "sand" looked more like they took some shovels and dug it out from the same ground we were standing on. There were all sorts of rocks in it causing it to be unable to use it. So we began to sift it. There were three different sifters. One for the big huge rocks, one for the medium rocks, and one for the little tiny rocks that were almost impossible to get out. We sifted sand for almost two days trying to get them enough for the concrete. As we were doing it, I couldn't help but think it was a lot like how God deals with us.

In order to refine us and build us into something magnificent, He has to "sift" us and get rid of all the rocks in our lives. First, he starts with the most obvious things. He helps us to give up addictions, trouble and trauma that is right in front of us and easy to spot. After we have dealt with those things He starts dealing with things that are a little deeper. A little harder to get rid of. Once those things are brought out, He reaches into us and starts yanking on those tiny, almost invisble things that are causing us to not reach out full potential. It hurts and it's time consuming but He starts to sift through those things and open up our eyes to them.

I was reminded of all of this the last few days and I thought I'd share.
We fight so much to remain that sand that isn't usable...but if we would just go through the process...we could be something amazing.