June Hunt - Trials: Gods Refining Fire

The printed version of this eBook is the Trials: Gods Refining Fire book, ISBN-13: 9781628621891

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, posted on the Internet, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The information and solutions offered in this resource are a result of years of Bible study, research, and practical life application. They are intended as guidelines for healthy living and are not a replacement for professional medical advice and counseling. JUNE HUNT and HOPE FOR THE HEART make no warranties, representations, or guarantees regarding any particular result or outcome. Any and all express or implied warranties are disclaimed. Please consult qualified medical, pastoral, and psychological professionals regarding individual conditions and needs. JUNE HUNT and HOPE FOR THE HEART do not advocate that you treat yourself or someone you know and disclaim any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the information in this resource.

For more information on Hope For The Heart, visit www.hopefortheheart.org or call 1-800-488-HOPE (4673).

Trials: Gods Refining Fire
Copyright 2015 Hope For The Heart
All rights reserved.
Aspire Press, a division of Rose Publishing, LLC
PO Box 3473
Peabody, Massachusetts 01961-3473 U.S.A.
Email: info@hendricksonrose.com
www.hendricksonrose.com
All rights reserved.

TRIALS

Gods Refining Fire

JUNE HUNT

• Find out how to stand on God's promises during tough times and be encouraged as you begin to see your "problems" as God's "possibilities."
• Discover the 10 steps to accepting Gods willeven during tough times.
• Deepen your understanding of how God uses trials in your life with this incredible eBook. Packed with key Bible verses, encouragement, and insight, it explains the 5 ways to build your faith in the furnace and it covers the 6 stages of character refinement.
• Get practical advice and Biblical wisdom from June Hunt, a Christian counselor whose award-winning radio program Hope For The Heart is heard on more than 1,000 radio outlets around the world. For more than 25 years, she has counseled people, offering them hope for todays problems.

Dear Friend,

Because of trials encountered early in my life, I grew up knowing resentment as well as most people know their best friend. In fact, for years I didnt have a best friend. Fearful of inviting an outsider into my private pain, I directed my energy not toward friendships, but toward justifying seething hatred of an individual I viewed as Personal Enemy #1: my father.

The mental list I kept of my fathers perceived sins and shortcomings was nearly endless: abusive, arrogant, angry, amoral, and that was just for starters. Though I didnt know it at the time, presiding as the virtual judge and jury over his life was a burden I was neither designed nor equipped to bear. As a result, my ever-expanding listalong with my certainty that dad would never changegradually ripped the hope right out of my heart.

So much so that, on a hot summer day shortly before starting my junior year in high school, I remember thinking these exact words: Do it, June! Drive off the bridge! It would be so easy! Why not? As a newly licensed driver, I gripped the steering wheel of my car and seriously considered whether this would be the day to bring a quick and welcome end to a life of just 15 years.

With my foot poised on the accelerator and the compulsion to press down growing, suddenly I felt an overpowering restraint. Wait! What if Im not successful? I could end up only maiming myself. Then Mom (whom I adored) would have the huge burden of needing to take care of me the rest of my life!

How vividly I remember the painful emotions churning inside of me and the hopelessness that ushered such upheaval into my life. It wasnt that I wanted to kill myself; I just wanted to stop the painrelentless, unspoken, soul-ravaging painproduced by a fiery trial that seemed to have no end.

What would have happened during the apex of that trial had I ignored my inner voice of restraint and, instead, careened over the expressway bridge? With the benefit of hindsight, I invite you to pause with me now to consider: Would I have been alive to accept Christ the following year ... as I did? Would I have experienced the awesome privilege of leading my father to a saving faith in Christ six months before he succumbed to cancer ... as I did? Would I have been available for God to use me to found a worldwide ministry that, today, brings biblical hope and practical help worldwide ... as He has?

Ill never know the answers to these questions on this side of heaven, but I do know this: Had I not persevered during the trials in my life, I would have no personal testimony of Gods faithfulness, no ironclad assurance of His ability to rescue and restore.

You see, in both the Old and New Testaments, we find numerous references to our God refining us through painful trials in much the same way an earthly refiner uses fire to purify gold and silver. Gods purpose for this process is to conform our character to His .

Clearly, we dont develop Christlike character all at once. Its forged over time, especially through trials . Helping you hang on to hope in the midst of these trialsespecially when the heat is turned up beyond what you think you can bearis why I wrote this book. Page by page, it provides biblical hope and practical help so you can draw near to the heart of the One who allowed the trial, trust in His perfect plan and character, and confidently surrender your will to His will.

As you do, you can have utmost assurance that the momentary affliction (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV ) God allows in your life is immensely purposeful. The heat will not destroy you, only conform you to Christs character. You can rest in the timeless truth of Isaiah 43:2: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

In my own life, the facts are clear: God, through His matchless mercy and grace, turned my own personal mess into a message . He transformed my test into a testimony . And friend, you can be sure of this: If He did it for me, He can do it for youfor your gladness and His great glory!

Yours in the Lords hope,

TRIALS

Gods Refining Fire

Everyone undergoes change in a crucible.

Everyone faces the heat in a furnace.

Everyone can be refined by the Refiner.

This is the pursuit of our personal Refinerto purify us. And He is masterful at knowing how much heat is needed and how much time it takes in the Refiners fire to surface impurities in our character. Whether refining precious metals or refining precious people, one point is certain: Purity is never achieved from only one firing in the furnace.