The mercy of the fire

If you didn’t go through the fire,
the snakes that hid in your life as friends would have never run out into the open.

If you didn’t go through the fire,
the weak, unboundaried spots in your life would have continued to remain hidden.

If you didn’t go through the fire,
how would you have known that you had a fear of man?  

If the flames of the fire didn’t overwhelm you to the point of total surrender to Jesus,
how else would God have broken independence & self reliance off you? 

If the fire didn’t come,
how else would you have proved to yourself that when you say ‘God is all I have’, you mean it?
Look at how He was the first person you ran to when you smelt the smoke.

If you didn’t go through the fire,
how would the image and likeness of God that you already are, but has been hidden beneath what you called your personality, come out? 

Don’t curse the fire
instead bless God for the fire 
for the revelation
for the sanctification 
for the uncovering
for the real you
that was forged in the fire.