you perhaps recall the story of the blacksmith who gave his heart to god. though conscientious in his living, still he was not prospering materialy. in fact, it seems that from the time of his conversion more trouble, affliction and loss were sustained than ever before. everything seemed to be going wrong.
one day a friend who was not a christian, stopped at the little forge to talk to him. sympathizing with him in some of the trials, his friend said, "It seems strange to me that so much affliction should pass over you, just at the time you have become an earnest christian. Of coarse i dont want to weaken your faith in god, oranything like that. But here you are, God's help and guidance, and yet things seem to be getting steadily worse. i cant help wondering why it is?"
The blacksmith did not answer immediatly, and it was evident that he had thought of the same question before. But finally he said, "You see the raw iron which i have here to make into horses shoes? You know what i do with it? I take a piece and heat it in the fire until it is red, almost white with the heat. then i hammer it unmercifully to shape it as i know it should be shaped. Then i plunge it into a pale of cold water to temper it. Then i heat it again and hammer it some more. and this i do until it is finished."
"But sometimes I find a piece of iron that won't stand up under this treatment. The heat and the hammering and the cold water are just to much for it. I dont know why it fails in the process, but i know it will never make a good horse shoe."
He pointed to a heap of scrap iron that was near the door of his shop. " when I get a piece that cannot take the shape and temper, i throw it out on the scrap heap. it will never be good for anything."
He went on, " I know that God has been holding me in the fires of affliction and I have felt his hammer upon me. but i dont mind, if only he can bring me to what i should be. and so in all these hard things, my prayer is simply this: Try me in any way you wish, lord, only dont throw me in the scrap heap." You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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&3 - "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD. An offering in righteousness. - The Lord is our Blacksmith and we are all a work in progress. Fantastic post!!!!!! 
