#190 Who can Endure the Refining Fire

Fire changes everything. When God turns up the heat, the sting is real, the shock is jarring, and the mark remains—but so does the promise that the Refiner is good and His purpose is pure. We lean into Malachi 3:2–3 and ask the question that sits under every trial: who can endure the refining fire? Together we name the pain, find our footing in trust, and trace how endurance grows when our weight rests on God’s steady character.

We walk through the felt side of spiritual growth—how letting go of toxic ties and worn habits hurts first and heals later. Then we get practical. Trust becomes the spine that keeps us upright, humility keeps us teachable, and journaling helps us see progress we’d otherwise miss. You’ll hear a candid story about a great-looking car with a blown head gasket and the hard lesson it taught about wise counsel and patience. Faith is not reckless; it works with wisdom. Even when we misstep, God can convert loss into tuition paid toward future wisdom.

Change also works best in subtle shifts. Think of tempering eggs for a custard: add heat too fast and it scrambles; add it slowly and the mixture transforms. In the same way, small, steady choices—five quiet minutes with Scripture, one honest check-in, one boundary kept—temper our souls without cracking us. As reactions soften and responses mature, the fruit of the Spirit replaces pride and haste. By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of what God is doing in the fire and fresh courage to say yes to the process before it begins.

If this message strengthens you, share it with a friend who’s in the heat, subscribe for more weekly encouragement, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your story of endurance might be the spark someone else needs.

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Transcript

Month Theme: Refinement And Endurance

What Refining Feels Like

Trust As The Anchor To Endure

Malachi 3 And The Refiner’s Fire

Journaling And Spiritual Growth Check

A Costly Car Lesson And Wise Counsel

Humility: Staying A Student

Changed Reactions As Evidence Of Growth

Subtle Shifts Vs Sudden Shifts

Choosing The Process And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Hello, hello, and welcome back to God's Diamond in the Rough. I am your host, Catherine. So glad to be with you one more time. So grateful and so thankful to be here, able to be able to pour in what God has poured or pour out what God has poured in. So y'all know what we gotta do. I must pray before we get started. Father, we thank you so much for your grace and your mercy. Thank you, God, for allowing us to be able to come together and hear this word that you have given us. I pray, God, that it be beneficial. I pray that each and everyone that hears it is able to receive it. I pray that, pray God, as you would just use me to your glory. Father, have your way. In Jesus Christ's name we do pray. Amen, amen, and amen. Hallelujah. So again, I say, I am glad to be before you one more time. And today we jump into a brand new month. Yes, we are talking this year all about refinement. Refinement, refinement. And you know, this process doesn't always feel that good. It doesn't always feel good, but no less God knows what is best, right? Amen. Come on, somebody. So this month or this week, as I told you on last week, we are talking about endurance, or this month, we're talking about endurance and trust. And our theme for the month of March is in the fire, in the fire, and anchored in Malachi chapter 3, verse 2 through 3. Malachi chapter 3, verse 2 through 3. And I would definitely encourage you to write it down in your journal, that journal that you were supposed to purchase last week or the week before. Yeah. I hope that you have it, and I hope you're ready to put it to use because what I know is that the Lord is gonna really have us thinking and really have us processing things that is between us and him, right? And like I know us ladies, we like to have diaries and things of that nature, but you do what it is, whatever you need to do, yeah, to grow at the end of the day. So today's topic or title for our for our episode today is who can endure the refining fire? Who can endure the refining fire? Like, is it you? Well, obviously, if you're being refired, refined, then the Lord knows that you are able to endure it. Because we know he says what he will not give us more than we could bear. Yes, he's not gonna give you more than what you can handle. So do you feel like you are in the fire? Let me ask you that question. Do you feel like you're in the fire? Certainly, like you should feel like it. You know what I mean? Because the the refining process doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good now. You know, last month we talked about that refinement is not a restart, but it is simply that it is getting rid of the things that are making you less valuable than you are without it. You're more valuable when it goes through the process, silver and gold. And then we talked about why God refines what he values. Okay, when pressure is proof of calling, that was the third week, and then the final week of February, it was answering the call without rushing the process, answering the call without rushing the process, like at the end of the day, all of these things accumulate to where we are right now. Yes, I'm pausing on purpose because you know, we need to think about where we are. Do you feel like it? And and and you know, when you think about what it feels like, like imagine just for a moment how it feels when you get burned. It stings immediately is a stinging sensation that hits whatever body part gets burned. Like it's it's a it's a feeling that you hit that lets you know I just got burned. You heard what I'm saying? And then typically when we're dealing with fire, it leaves a mark. Come on now, I want y'all to follow me now. It leaves a mark, and then after that mark is begins to appear pretty quickly, especially when you put ice or mustard or something on it, it begins to burn even more. You you are you then you begin to feel more pain than you had before you first got that burn or that had that encounter with the fire. Yeah. And that's what it feels like. Like when we are when we are in the midst of stuff of things, or people oftentimes we call it life, and but when we are experiencing the or going through the process of refining, like it doesn't feel good. It initially it shocks us. You know, most of us we shock when we get burned, we like, we jump, oh, because it's an unfamiliar thing that just touched us. And not only did it touch us, but it it left its mark on us. And this is what it looked like when when we when we are are when say you you know a bad habit is is taken from us, or you know, uh a toxic relationship is gone. Like we feel that. Like we feel the impact of it no longer being there. Like we feel the impact, and let me dare to say it like this we feel the impact of it being a part of us, and now we gotta get used to it of it not being there. You heard what I'm saying? But in the midst of that, it hurts, it's painful. So you if you're sitting back and you know things are happening in your life, you're trying to figure out what is happening. I'm telling you right now, you are in the refining process. And here's the thing look, this race ain't given to the swift nor the strong. You have got to figure out how you're going to stay, how you're gonna stay still. And here's the thing the only way that you stay still, the only way you become unmoved is that you keep your trust in him. Hallelujah. You put your trust in him and you keep your trust in him. And see, here's the thing: he honors that. He honors the fact that you put your trust in him, and this is why we can persevere, this is why we can endure, this is why we can not be moved and not be shaken. It's because our trust is totally in him and he knows that, he honors that, he is not going to take your trust in him in vain. You hear what I'm saying? And here's the thing you won't be the same. And when God is refining you, and the Lord is getting rid of the things that are hindering you and harming, harming you, and delaying you, and keeping you back, look, you won't be the same. It's it's inevitable. It's going to be different. And that's the interesting fact. Matter is that most of us want everything to stay stayed. Most of us want everything to stay the same, but we want something different. You know, we want it to stay the same, but we want more. We want it to stay the same, but we don't want to have to release anything. And that ain't the way that it worked. When we look at the scripture, and maybe I should have done this, done this at the beginning, but when we look at the scripture, and this is what we got to identify, what he's doing in the fire. Okay? What he's doing in the fire, okay, because it's one thing to endure the fire, but what's happening in the midst of the fire? So I thought about coming from and talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, because they was actually in the fire. Maybe that maybe that'll come up next week. But when we look at our theme scripture, our anchor strip scripture, verse 2 said, But who may abide in the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner, fi refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. So in that verse, he said, he asks a question like when he does come back and he comes, who gonna be able to stand? You know, how are you gonna be able to look at him? How are you gonna be able to keep keep yourself together when you're able to meet the one that has totally changed your life? The one who has made you stronger, made you bigger, you know, made you better than who you used to be. I mean, it's like it's like you see these concerts where, especially when you're young, you're like just like over the top over these different artists and musicians. You know, they see them or they get near them and fan them and touch them with them, and just oh, they just fall out. You ever want to say, oh, and they just hit the floor, you know, or whatever have you. Like, that's what it's gonna be like. It's like that's an imagery picture of what it look, what it's gonna look like. And you get in the presence of the Lord, and you just like, oh, you just fall out on the floor, you know what I mean? Yeah, so he said, Who can abide and who can stand? So verse 3, and he said, He shall sit as a refiner, sitting in his role. Look, he said, and purifier of silver. He said, He said, Look, when he comes back, he's gonna be on his mission. He's gonna be on his job, ready to get the junk out that don't need to be there, get the things out that's not doing us no good. He said, He shall purify the sons of Levi. He said, because they were corrupt, because they had lost their way. He said, and purge them as gold and silver. Okay? Purges are pressing down. I don't know if you've ever washed any clothes by hand, but and when you rush, wash your clothes by hand, you're gonna take and rub them things together, and you're gonna be pushing them down, lifting them up, pushing them down, lifting them up, pushing them down, lifting, because you're purging, you're trying to get that dirt, that dirt out, you know. And and the more you press down, the the more is able to be released. You hear what I'm saying? Pulled up, pushed down, pulled up, pushed down, pulled up, pushed up, pushed down. That's what our lives look like as we grow and we mature in the spirit. We'll pull it up and push down, pulled up, push down. The word says that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Like he's trying to get all the junk out the way so that the glory you're giving to him is pure, unadulterated, not mixed up with anything else, you know. Pride ain't in there, arrogance ain't in there, you know, but it's full of humility, it's full of love, it's full of joy and gentleness, full of the fruit of the spirit. But he got to get rid of all the other stuff. And if you're unwilling to go through the process, how is he able to get rid of it? You heard what I'm saying? So I hope that this is helping somebody. What are you thinking right now? Hope you got your journals. Write down what you're thinking right now. Like, based on everything that I've said up to this point, what are you thinking right now? Because we're halfway through. What are you thinking? Like, over the past, you know, have you noticed a change? Have you noticed a difference in the past couple of weeks? About oh uh, you know, in regard to like your focus and your desires and things, have you noticed any difference at all? Because you should, especially if you've been with me since God's diamond and rough has come back into life and come out of retirement. Like at the end of the day, there ought to be something going on that it's like it's a shifting in in your spiritual maturity. Yeah, I believe it. Like, me personally, you know, I know you can't see me, but you can hear me, but I can truly say, like, God is He's at work in my life. And, you know, I'll be the first one to tell you it don't, everything that he's doing in my life, it don't all feel good. But I know it's for my good. Does that make sense? Because he said, I work all things for your good. And, you know, even the good, even the even the bad and ugly, they work. He uses it for our good. Like people take advantage of you, people do this, say this, you know, do that and the other. Like, none of that stuff goes down in vain. He's able to use it for our glory, or use it for his glory and for our good. You gotta trust him. I mean, I can't say it enough. You got you have to trust him to be able to endure the pressures of this life. Because if you don't, then you can be, you can easily succumb to the things that are happening and try to handle it your own way and do your own thing. I know it. I know it for I know it to be true. It is not easy. It is not easy, but it's worth it. You hear me? It is worth it to watch the hand of God move, move on your behalf. Like, you be like, wow. Like, I, you know, I just and here's another real vivid example. Like, my husband and I, we just purchased a vehicle, and by the time you hear this, yeah, yeah. Because this is this is not a not a yeah. Miss me, never mind, y'all. But but we just purchased a vehicle, right? And and on the outside, the shell is beautiful, like nice. Look like taken care of, you know. It wasn't too crazy expensive. They did say that something was wrong with it. They said that it was a water pump, right? And so we're thinking, uh, well, okay. Well, we're gonna faith it out and you're gonna take a chance because we had spoken to our mechanic, and he said, well, you know, he asked what was wrong with it, whatever. He was like, Well, I probably wouldn't mess with it, but of course. We didn't listen because, again, we're operating in faith because we trust the Lord and his leading. So we went ahead and purchased it. Lo and behold, we found out a couple days later that the hair gasket is blown. Now, as I said, it's a very nice vehicle. It's been well kept well kept for the most part, but they did not tell us that the that that the thing had the hair gasket had blown. They said it was the water pump. So I think I believe that that was a cover so that they, you know, because that typically is a cause for overheating. So they just said something so that they could sell it because they needed the money. Like at the end of the day, my trust is in the Lord, but I'ma tell you what. I'm sitting here and I'm just thinking, I'm just like, are you kidding me? This is Catherine just being transparent with everybody now. Like, are you kidding me? Like, number one, I didn't intend on buying a car anytime soon. But I moved in faith. And look what happened. You hear what I'm saying? And so I'm sitting here thinking to myself, this is what I've been thinking all even up until this point. What are we gonna do now, Lord? What we gonna do now, Lord? Because what we thought was gonna cost about$1,500, it's gonna cost almost two times. It's gonna cost about five. That's a big difference, right? But God, I said all that to say, but God, like, if he brings you to it, he will bring you through it. You hear what I'm saying? Like, your perspective matters more than you realize. How you see things, where your trust is, it can make a situation that is horrible, make it seem like it's gonna be alright. It is okay. And that's what I'm thinking to myself. Like, it is alright, it is okay. And you know, the debate here is do we fix it? Do we find the motor, go ahead and fix it, uh, and spend the money, or do we just take it as an L? You know, 16, because that's what we paid for,$1,600.$1,600, it was a lesson. Yeah, we paid that, and it was a well-learned lesson. What was the lesson? Listen, listen to wise counsel because look, yeah, faith is a beautiful thing, but he also has given us wise counsel. Hallelujah. And so I'll give you the 411 on what we decide to do later. But I wanted to drop that in the bucket to let y'all know, look, I'm just not just talking. You heard what I'm saying? You know what happened to my son? He paid, he was murdered, you know. Like, I'm not absent from life. Things happen to me just as well. So just because he chose me to be the teacher doesn't mean that I'm not a student. You heard what I'm saying? Some folk they done because they teach, they're the teacher, they done forgot they're a student. We're all students, we're ever learning if we are growing the way Jesus desires us to. So when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. You hear me? I mean, that's big, and I just somebody I I you know is not a cliche, but you hear it from time to time. But I just recently was reminded of it a couple of weeks ago. But when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. And that's real. Like when you have when you have gotten to a on a level of humility, to a level of humility, then this is when you become the student again. You heard what I'm saying? And when you become the student, the teacher can show up and teach you a thing or two. But if you are walking around as if you know everything and nobody can tell you anything, the teacher can never show his face. You heard what I'm saying? Like at the end of the day, we have got to learn to be humble enough to be quiet. You hear what I'm saying? When God is trying to teach us something, we have to learn how to discern his voice so that we can hear what he's saying. And see, here's the thing when you are the student and the teacher is there, number one, you know he's you're not alone, and you will see the hand of God and what he's been doing in your life, in your response, and in your reaction. Your response won't be what it was. Your reaction won't be what it was either. Do you hear what I'm saying? Once upon a time you might have flew off the handle, but now you're just taking it with a grain of stride, grain of salt, and you just you're taking it with a stride. And the people that know you from way back in, they're looking at you like, okay, I just knew you was gonna flip out, but you didn't. And you can look at them and say, I'm not who I used to be. Y'all think I because I look the same, that I am the same. But when God comes on the scene of your life, He changes you from the inside out. And your responses and your reactions will change. They will. Now they may not believe it, but I'm here to tell you as a witness, they will. You know what I mean? And you know, it's interesting. Like people, I don't know why it is, it seems that people, they think you'll never change. Like you'll never get better than you used to be when you were a little less mature. They think for whatever reason that you'll never change. And so when you do change, they're looking at you like, whoa. Wow. But I, you know, let them watch you. And when they see your response is different, just look at them and say, God did it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God did it. At the end of the day, He did. You know, it ain't nothing that we do outside of being moving in obedience. Like it ain't nothing that we're doing. It's the hand of God. Do you? Or let me ask you this. Excuse me. I'll just yarn. My bad. Let me see. I got a note here. I'm here trying to read it. But I told you, I told y'all last week. I be thinking and I be writing. Now I be thinking faster than I write. So when I write, when I write, sometimes I have to slow down. Like, what in the world is this? I don't wrote. See, trying to read this threw me off there for a second. I apologize, y'all. Y'all just getting the real, I mean, like, what's one thing that you gotta know that you're gonna get here is you're gonna get Catherine. You hear me? I'm not gonna pretend to be something that I'm not because that would be fake. You know? I am extremely tired. That's that's what I'll say. I am very tired. And not Anne, but the Lord is giving me the strength that I need to continue to go for. But I'm listening to my body and it's tired. And so after I finish everything that I need to finish, I will get some rest. And I hope that you will do the same. And and see, like I once once upon a time, I just push myself, push myself, push myself. And I, you know, I would push myself so much so that immediately, when I sat down, immediately I'd be asleep. Like I I mean all I had to do was sit down, and I would start to drift off to sleep. That's just how much I was doing. But now I'm to the place where I can genuinely I can sit back and kind of look at myself and and think and ask myself, uh how am I responding to the shifting? Because some people, sometimes you can find yourself not some people, but sometimes you can find yourself canceling or dismissing the shift. Like the shifting should be subtle. Because subtle shifts you can you can move with a subtle shift. Easier than a sudden shift. A sudden shift is a hard shift to adjust to. But if it's a small shift at a time, you can gr you can slowly embrace it and it can become a part of you. Let me give you an example. I had I had another example written down, but I got another example because because I excuse me, because if you didn't know it, I bake. And when you're making a custard pie, you you let your your sugar and your starch and your milk slowly come to a boil. Very, very low boil, right? And but and then once it gets to the boil and the consistency it needs to be, you take, you take and you separate egg whites and egg yolks. Well, now you got to put your egg yolks into the into that hot liquid. Now what's gonna happen is if you just throw that egg in there, that egg yolk in there, just straight into that pot from cold to hot, it's a sudden shift in the temperature of the egg. And what will happen is that that egg will will instantly begin to harden, it'll begin to cook. And then what's gonna happen? It's gonna ruin your custard because you're gonna have lumps of scrambled eggs throughout your custard, and so you have to start all over. The proper way to do it is you take that hot liquid and you add it to the egg a little bit at a time. You mix the egg around so that what happens is the egg yolk can can slowly adjust to the temperature of the heat without overcooking it too fast. Because once once that egg gets just as hot as the liquid, and the way that it happens is you add the liquid to the cold egg, and that cold egg comes to the same temperature as that custard, then you can safely pour the hot egg liquid into the bigger pot of custard without creating scrambled eggs and messing up your product. Like that's just an example of a sudden shift and a what you call them shift, a like an incremental shift. And that's what you want. You want us you want small things that lead to big results. You heard me? You want small things that lead to big report big results, and this is what is happen, what happens when God does things in your life, He does them in small ways for the for the bigger and for the greater. This is the well, this is what refining looks like. You know? You get you gotta you gotta choose even before you begin. Like, I'm gonna allow the Lord to do what he needs to do in my life, whether it's removing things, moving things, whatever he desires decides to do. I I just say yes, Lord, whatever you need to do. So who can endure the refining fire? The end of the day, you can. You can. Hallelujah. So we come down to the end of our episode tonight or today, depending upon when you're taking a look at this or listening to it. So I'm going to pray. Father, I thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much for this conversation on tonight. And I just pray the blessing of the Lord will be upon each and every one that is able to hear it and receive it. I pray that all of us will realize you have given us all we need to be able to endure the things that you have that you will, that will come into our life, come into our presence, come into our path. God, continue to build us up. Lead God and order our steps in a way that we ought to go. We love you so much. So grateful and so thankful. We pray this prayer. We ask it all in Jesus' name. We do pray. Amen. I thank y'all so much for your attention. Thank you for being with me one more time. I hope you will join me on next week where we are gonna be talking about God is sitting with you in the fire. So you are not alone. You're not ever alone. God is sitting right there with you in the fire. So y'all have a blessed week. Make sure you sow if you're able to. Make sure you come on back. Look, freedom is yours. Hallelujah. Freedom brings us refinement. Hallelujah. To God be the glory. Y'all have a great week, and we'll see you on the next time. Remember, faith, fuel freedom. It belongs to you. Faith, fuel freedom. It is yours. Receive it now. And don't forget, you are a diamond in the rough.