Let It REFINE You, Not DEFINE You

All my adult life, I’ve carried extra weight. Although I’m about sixty pounds lighter than I was at my heaviest, I’m still another sixty from where I want to be. At a regular visit to my doc last week, I was told my blood pressure was a bit high. That unsettling news came along with good news. All I have to do to lower it is exercise and lose weight. It turns out that the cause is also the solution.

And I’m responding. (’cause it kinda freaked me out)

I have a plan including intermittent fasting and walking, but it’s been a week fraught with struggle because it’s getting in my head and stressing me out.

Then this morning, I felt a little admonition from the LORD. “Let it REFINE you, not DEFINE you.”

In other words, there are areas of my life that He is pruning, growing, and discipling. In this case, they are areas of long struggle and needed attention. I feel the LORD’s grace in it that gives me certainty about my results in a way I’ve not had before.

But I’m not to let the fear define my future. I’m to let the process refine me with a responsive heart and life. We must cooperate with the LORD’s work through these difficult seasons.

I don’t know what difficulty you’re experiencing or what you experienced that you’ve let define your present. Whatever personal, leadership, or ministry situation you’re thinking of, let’s walk through it together, embracing His refining.

-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)

ps. ironically, my top weight was the same as this Fertilizer number :)

Let It REFINE You, Not DEFINE You (Nº 344)