Sitting in the Refiner’s Fire

Glenni Lorick, Editor-in-Chief

Every once in a while, you live through a period of time, then look back and wonder how in the world you made it. The months of August and September were like that for me. It all started when my husband’s cousin died of cancer. They were very close. Then my daughter got bitten by a brown recluse spider and had a bad reaction to all the steroids they gave her, resulting in a week long hospitalization. As August progressed, things just got worse, culminating with the sudden, unexpected death of my good friend, Dana on my son’s 11^th birthday. My older son who rooms with her son at Wallace State had come home for John Carl’s birthday dinner, so he wasn’t even there when his roommate received the devastating news.

I think I’ve cried more in the last more in the last six weeks than I’ve ever cried in my life. However, at the very beginning of August I received an email that has kept me going. It was about the Scripture where God is compared to a silver refiner. A lady studying that verse decided to see what the refining process was like. She visited a silversmith and watched as he held the silver in the very hottest part of the fire. That was necessary, he explained, to remove all impurities. But he didn’t dare take his eyes off the silver for one minute, because it could be ruined. She asked him how he knew when it was done, to which he replied, “That’s easy; it’s done when I can see my reflection in it.” I sure hope God sees His reflection in me soon!

In this issue we feature Amy George’s reflection on just what the Swim for Melissa has meant to her. We also have an article by a new grandmother reflecting on her daughter’s breastfeeding experience. If you like to get out and about, you’ll love Doppler Dale’s Destinations. And if you like to get up and boogie, you’ll be really excited about Dance Trance! Once again Phala Rasmussen delights us with her adventures in mothering.

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Cute Baby of the Month!