Refining Relations

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Her words scraped a bloody line down the center of my soul – daughters do that to mothers.

My eyes flashed with anger and pain. I swallowed hard, but the knot in my throat didn’t budge.

My words flew hard and fast from my mouth and instantly I knew. My words left marks too.

“I’m sorry,” I looked her in the eyes. “I should not have been so harsh. Please forgive me.”

She nods tears pricking her eyes, but the fire was still burning there. She folds her arms.

“I was wrong,” I nod. “But you cannot treat me like that either.”

Her shoulders sag and she lets her arms hang loose. “Please forgive me mom.”

Her words hang in the air and I wonder.

Will it always be this hard? I love her and she loves me, but this scraping and bruising is difficult.

And God reminds me, “It is the scraping and bruising that makes you more like Me.”

“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. ” Isaiah 48:10

He is scraping out the ugly sinful stuff so I can better reflect His glory.

Instead of running from these refining times I should gladly embrace them. As God uses my daughter to burn impurities out of my life, He is using me to do the same in her life. Neither of us are perfect, but one thing I know. God won’t keep us in the fire too long.

After the storm clouds past, she came to me and hugged me. “Mom, you are the best mom ever.”

My eyes misted over but I managed to say, “And you are the best E ever.”

 

How has God used your children to refine you? 

Stephanie Shott
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