Hello Everyone
Formed in the fire. Psalm 66:8-12. As Newcastle kids there was always great excitement when we went on a day trip to The Rocks in Sydney to visit the various arts and crafts shops. Our first stop was always the glassblowing gallery. We would watch the craftsman take some molten glass and fashion it into an extraordinary art form. As the glass become molten in the fire, the master craftsman would scoop it up and begin to form a vessel by turning it, blowing air into it, carefully shaping it, and finally slowly cooling it to prevent it from shattering. What could have remained a blob of molten glass after being in the fire became a unique and exquisite piece of art in the skilled hands of the glassblower. It was a vessel formed in the fire, and embossed with the artist’s signature, identifying the creation as uniquely his work.
Our journey of faith is similar and so often we are transformed by God into distinct and beautiful expressions of His image when we go through difficulty. We are mostly formed in the fire. The wonder of God as the magnificent master craftsman of all things, is His love and passion to never leave us like the blob of molten glass after we have encountered the fire. He faithfully gathers us up, turns us, breathes on us, attentively holds us, delicately shapes, and transforms us into beautiful vessels who bear His signature, refreshing us in the streams of His living water to ensure we don’t crack and break. We are formed in the fire.
As God’s vessels, formed in the fire, refined, and transformed into resplendent expressions of our Master, we are on display to all who pass by God’s windows of life, as art works and vessels of perseverance, strength and hope who were formed in the fire and came out beautiful in the hands of heaven’s almighty Artisan.
So, friends, get your “fire” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen