The Last Morning & Jesus is Enough

Today is the last morning I'll wake up in this house, head downstairs to make the coffee, and sit in my chair to journal and read my Bible.  I'm a creature of habit, a routine girl by nature, and I especially treasure my quiet morning times while everyone else is sleeping.

As I wrote in my journal this morning and stared at the boxes piled up around me, I started looking ahead: what will our new home be like?  Where will I put my chair?  How long will it take to feel settled?  Will the kids like it?  Will I like it?  What lessons are we going to learn?

And, then I started thinking back on the 3 1/2 years we've lived in this home.  We've had some great memories here.  And we've had some tough times, too.  Some of my hardest days have been spent on the floor of this home, crying out to God for answers, help, strength, and grace.

He gave it.  He gave me strength to be a mother.  He gave me help to embrace the unexpected and to rejoice in it.  He has poured out His grace in my life in countless ways.  He has become more precious to me than I could ever imagine.

It was in this home that I learned Jesus is enough.  

We face trials that we don't understand, but God has a purpose.  And even if we never have answers for what He does, we can be confident that He will use them to prove our faith.

Trials in life are likened to what fire does to gold.  When gold is placed in the fire, all of the impurities rise to the surface, and they're skimmed off and discarded.

When we are put into the fire of trials, it is meant to bring our impurities to the surface.  God uses those trials to sift out what needs to be removed in order for us to be purified and made more into His likeness.

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:6-7

And what's the result?  The result is that our more pure faith then results in praise to Jesus.  We can rejoice in those trials because they are being used to strengthen our faith and make us more like Christ.

I don't know what God has in store for the next chapter of our lives.  But I do know that whatever comes our way, we can trust God.  We can trust that He will do whatever it takes to continue to purify us and to make us more like Him.