Trial by fire .

How do you know what you are made of ?  One way that we measure the strength of buildings and metals is trial by fire . We see the boiling point of the metal. We measure the outcome post fire for structural integrity.  We analyze if the building remains standing once the blaze has been let a smoldering mess. We look to see if the structure is still solid or if it will crumple under pressure AFTER the intial shock of the fire and destruction has already occurred .

Maybe the same is true of people.  Maybe the old tale about the parent putting tea, eggs, and a carrot in boiling water to educate their child about life is something that we should truly take to heart . The egg gets hard after the heat has already been removed .  The same is true of some people . The carrot completely crumples and turns to mush . It is the same color and retains most of the original vitamins but it is soft and easily destroyed when any pressure after the original heat has been removed . The tea is effected by the fire as well . It does not become hard like the egg . It is not weaker like the carrots . Instead the tea is brewed and changes . It becomes its best destiny . Some people are like tea . After being exposed to heat - they realize they have more potential and grow into their true destiny . They literally are tried  by fire and grow into more then previously thought of them.

I have been all three versions of the food depending on the trials I have encountered .  I'd love to tell you that some of my trials were totally random- but that is that the case. Some of the trials and pressure I have experienced were my own poor decisions . I have lost family, friends, a home, loved ones, etc due to my lack of good decisions.  I have failed. I have been  selfish and cruel and down right mean. My boiling points and structural integrity has not always revealed a core of strength. Times that I thought I had things under control only to find myself after the fire was left in ash- I am reminded of the documentary over the twin towers . The metal used for the "cage" - the internal metal that was to hold everything together in case of fire or destruction was not build according to the original plans . That error was very much like some of my errors .... they revealed my failings and I crumpled . I lost people dear to me . I lost pieces of me . I lost my sense of safety . I mushed like the carrot .

Another issue I've had when tried by flames and fears is ignoring the problems.  I foolishly tried to pretend I was "fine ." That's like seeing a fire in your cabinet and closing the door and hoping for the best . Ignoring the trials and fire does not make the fire cease to exist - it only allows it to grow and devour more.  A fire left untamed is allowed to feed and thrive on the kindling of ignorance. I couldn't hide from my problems or tribulations any more than closing the cabinet would stop the fire . It kept burning .
It kept eating away at things that were important .
I kept loosing things and people I love .

A few days ago I saw this verse :" When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you . " Isiah 43:2

Ironically it's smoldered in the cabinet I tried to close ... I hadn't put out some of the things that were causing me harm . I hadn't stopped the fires . Today I reread the verse and something new stuck out.

"Walk through the fire ..." notice it doesn't say SIT and remain in the problem . It doesn't say create more problems due to anger and bitterness . It doesn't say ignore the fact that you are experiencing fire . Rather it points out something so obvious.

Don't stay in the fire .  You are passing through the flames .

"If you're going through hell - keep on going ." Don't stay the way that you are . Don't keep making the same stupid choices that you made to put you in that predicament. Keep building and get away from the fire .

Keep going .
Stop making the same bad choices and hoping for a new outcome because the cabinet is closed.
Keep fighting.
Stop providing kindling.
"...The flames will not harm you."
But they will change you .

Being tested by fire isn't the end - it's a shift.