tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276278342039529509.post4943583635966521570..comments2024-03-18T00:53:33.065+11:00Comments on in all honesty: pride (3) this welcome painJeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01538502318975037711noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276278342039529509.post-10223118612717562032009-02-21T08:17:00.000+11:002009-02-21T08:17:00.000+11:00I'm so sorry, Jo, I was fiddling with the post and...I'm so sorry, Jo, I was fiddling with the post and that paragraph got left out. I've put it back in now. I wasn't sure it was clearly expressed, but since you found it so helpful, there it is!!<BR/><BR/>I'm so glad you were encouraged by what I wrote. Thank you for sharing your own experiences with me. It's so true, isn't it? We think we trust God, and then something comes along and removes our props and supports, and we find ourselves forced to really trust God for the first time. God is amazing, the way he leads us so gently and firmly to him, our one true good.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538502318975037711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7276278342039529509.post-44140605701014347802009-02-21T03:57:00.000+11:002009-02-21T03:57:00.000+11:00Thanks for this post, Jean.I read it last night an...Thanks for this post, Jean.<BR/>I read it last night and came back to comment on it, but can't find the bit that really struck me about holding the sword close for refining. I feel like I'm imagining things! I do love the way you have expressed the desire to hold the pain close, to relish the painful work because it is the only way to get rid of the ugly self-sufficiency. God has been kind enough to give me a situation with my children that as a mother has brought me to the end of my own resources. For years I mouthed the right words about God's sovereignty and timing, whilst really working hard to fix this (and every other) situation. Now, with the situation still unresolved, and no certainty that it ever will be(!) I can say thank you to God for giving me the opportunity to let go of myself and my resources, and to learn to trust (no, really trust!) in God and his strength and his goodness and his timing. I would have carried on SO self-sufficiently had it not been for this! Jo CAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com