#200 Nothing Is Wasted In Refinement

Nothing feels more discouraging than pouring years into a season that still looks like loss. If you’ve been asking, “Was any of this for nothing?” we want to speak a clear word over your life: nothing is wasted. Not the tears. Not the delays. Not the quiet, unseen moments. Not the pressure that made you question everything.

We anchor the message in James 1:2-4, where trials test faith and produce patience, and we talk honestly about what “count it all joy” actually means when life is heavy. We also lean into Romans 8:28 as a storm-season lifeline, reminding ourselves that hardship doesn’t equal abandonment and that God can be closer than you think. Along the way, we ask reflective questions that get practical fast: Are you cursing your process? What are you running to for relief? Which one wins inside you, spirit or flesh?

You’ll also hear a simple journaling practice to strengthen your faith in real time: write an “I survived” list and name what God brought you through. We explore why delays can develop depth, why isolation can be part of God’s polishing, and why the process protects the promise, because shortcuts can cost you what you’re praying for.

If you need encouragement for spiritual growth, patience under pressure, and trusting God in the refinement process, press play. Subscribe, share this with someone who’s in a hard season, and leave a review so more people can find the reminder that God wastes nothing.

A journey through spiritual refinement, identity, healing, and growth, learning how pressure produces purpose and reveals the diamond within.

An invitation to come and be a part of what God is building here at God's Diamond Network.  We don't have to go at it alone; this is where we will grow together.

A Christ-centered journey of reset, refinement, and realignment, helping you confront darkness, heal deeply, and walk boldly in your God-given identity and purpose.

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Thank you for listening, and we hope you will return every week.

Transcript

Opening Prayer And Staying Focused

Nothing Is Wasted And Patience

Write Your “I Survived” List

Posture In The Middle Of Storms

Diamond Cuts And Small Beginnings

Delays Build Depth And Protect Promise

Closing Prayer For Refinement

Journal Prompts And Next Week Preview

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Hello, hello, and hello. Welcome back one more time, God's diamond in the rough. I am so glad to be before you. Hallelujah. Today is a good day. Amen. If you don't know who I am, my name is Catherine, and I am here as a child of God, ready to serve, ready to serve on the behalf on the behalf of the Lord. Hallelujah. So I hope you've had a good week. Thank you for joining me one more time. This is your first time joining me. Please, please, please let me know it somewhere, however, you're listening to it, because this is in so many other places. I always welcome each and every, especially my new people, to let me know, you know, that you are here because I am just so glad to have you. So we are in the season of refinement this year, and we are three months in, started in February. So February, March, March, April, May, June. No, March, April, May. Yep, three months in to discussing uh what it looks like to be refined, all the ins and the outs as the Lord leads us. And today we want to talk from a thought. Nothing is wasted. I'm gonna say that loud and clear. Nothing is wasted. It might feel like it, but nothing is wasted at all. So before we get into that, we're gonna go ahead and pray. So, Father, thank you again for another day. Thank you, God, for allowing us to be able to come together to hear what you have to say. I pray that every diamond in the room would be clarified, and we all will receive clarity. Yes, Father. I pray, God, that you would just use it to your glory. Have your way. I pray for every heart that is here able to receive what it is that you bring forth. God, we love you and we thank you. We pray it, we turn it, we pray it in the name of Jesus, we turn it over to you. We rebuke the devil and all of his attacks to try to steal, kill, destroy, and distract. Because I refuse to be distracted, Father. I pray that you would open up my eyes, open up our eyes so we can see, open up our ears so we can hear, and that more than anything we can receive the truth as our tree. Thank you, God. We give you glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus Christ's name. We do pray. Amen. Amen and amen. So, y'all excuse me. So, when I'm recording this in particular, I have done quite a bit today in the realm of teaching. And so my voice is just a little bit, but the devil is a liar. I'm gonna keep on pressing into how. Amen. So, nothing is wasted. I hope that you know that. If you didn't know it, we're going to discuss it today because we have been talking about joy under pressure, talking about the power of patience and the reality that James 2 or James 1, verse 2 through 4. Paul says, Well, let me get it open. I am not together right now, but that's okay. That's okay. I hope you got your journals while I'm turning to it. If you're driving or anything like that, make sure that you take a listen to this way. Yeah. Um when you're at home, when you're able to sit still and listen to it again, you want to definitely, because the Lord has given me plenty of questions for us to sit back and reflect. Yes. So I'm going to James, our anchor scripture, chapter one, verse two through three. And it reads like this. It says, It says, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Hallelujah. So James, the brother of Jesus, says to us, like at the end of the day, what God is working in us and through us is meant to get us into a place and position where we don't, you know, want for a thing, that we are completely satisfied and content where we are. Hallelujah. I mean, when we get to that point, like all bets is off. All bets are off. Hallelujah. And when we get settled with the fact that love, even though it's ugly and messy, God's still working it out for my good. Yeah. Amen. So count it all joy. The joy is working by faith, and that faith is working on our patience. Hallelujah. So let me ask you a question. Uh, do you think that it's all for nothing? Do you have those moments where you're thinking, man, can't nothing good come out of this? Like, what is going on? Like, if you're a human, we've all had that thought, right? How about do you find yourself damning your process? Damning is just about cursing it. Do you find yourself doing that? Because if you do today, I want us to accept that God uses it all. Hallelujah. God uses it all, even the uncomfortable, the shameful, and not so pleasurable parts of our lives uh to do two things to fulfill his plan and to fulfill his purpose. Hallelujah. Amen. Do not be dismayed at what it looked like. Amen. Because again, he wastes nothing. Hallelujah. He wastes nothing. Let me give you this thought. Hardship does not mean abandonment. Hardship does not mean abandonment. Because, you know, most of us, you know when it's hard, it's rough, it's tough. We're thinking, where is God at? Right? We're thinking, where is God? Hallelujah. But God lets us know. I'm even closer than you think. Amen. We know the footprints in the sand in that poem. You know, when as the writer is writing, he's thinking, God is nowhere around. I can't hear him, I can't see him, nothing. And God responds with, like, when you thought I wasn't, and you thought you were walking, it wasn't you walking. I was carrying you. The footprints in the sand that you see is not yours, they're mine. Hallelujah. He is right there with us all along the way. Amen. When you're in the middle of a test, you got stuff going on. Most of the time, the teacher is not gonna say a word. Hallelujah, because more than anything, he wants you to rely on him. Amen. So in the refinement process, as just a brief reminder, the purpose is bigger than the pain. Hallelujah. The purpose is bigger than the pain. Don't trade, trade in your purpose because of the pain. Hallelujah. I know it don't make sense. Look, it don't feel good, but you gotta know that there is something bigger than what you can see. Hallelujah. So let's just remind you, real quick, we want to be tapping in. We are being tapped into on a numerous level of preparation, of purification, of maturity, and in our strength. These are the things that God is tapping in and pulling out, working with, messing with, whatever you want to call it. You know, these are the things because there's a plan. Amen. Look, look, it's all at the end of the day, all of it is about, all of it is about refinement, it's about getting rid of the things that are devaluing, getting rid of the things that are not leading to our purpose, getting rid of the things that are slowing us down, getting rid of the things that do us more harm than they do good. Hallelujah. I hope that somebody can receive that on today. Look, pressure is what reveals fear, pride, wounds, insecurity, and most of all, dependence on God. You at that point, you realize how much you need Him. Hallelujah. The pressure and the weight that comes at us so many times, it comes in the form of fear, comes in the form of pride, wounds, that insecurity. Amen. And most of all, what ends up happening is that we become, we have a heightened awareness of how much we need God. Hallelujah. When we when those things are happening, hallelujah, with fear is all around us, you know, that unsurety, that uncertainty, that's where we go running to. Amen. That's if we got a relationship with Him. Amen. It's unfortunate. A lot of times people are running to temporary things, hallelujah. Turn turning to people, expecting them to fix their problem, turning to things, expecting it to get rid of it, you know, using the coping mechanism, coping, excuse me, mechanism above just leaning on God, hallelujah. At the end of the day, God will show us, amen, who's in authority, amen. So, what I want you to do is go down. I want us to go down memory lane, okay, just for a minute, and I want you to think about what you have survived. What are some of the things that you have survived over your lifetime? Hallelujah. That's what I want you to write it down. And the way that I I want to ask you to write it down is just as simple as say, I survived dot dot dot, whatever that is, and I want you to make a list of the things that you have overcome that the Lord has allowed you to make it through. Let me give you some examples. Some examples would be betrayal, divorce. That's me. I've been through betrayal. And you know, if I'm being transparent, like all of them, all of these examples, they are what I have been through, and still struggle with some of these things. Or I wouldn't say struggle, I would say overcoming. You know, every day I'm overcoming these things, but betrayal, I've been divorced, I dealt with rejection, still will still deal with rejection, church hurt, way back in the day, financial strength, struggles, still do. Grief, absolutely, and failure, absolutely. Those are just some examples. Well, what have you survived? Hallelujah. You can you can put down anything, anything that when you look back at it, you say, Yeah, yeah, that was a tough time. God put so-and-so in my life at that time, you know. God did this, and God did that, and you know, praise God, I made it through. Hallelujah. That's how we have to look at you know, those things. You don't waste what you went through in the midst of those trials, in the midst of those tears that you shed, and all of that in between. He didn't waste any of that, it's all a part of the plan and the purpose. In the midst of it all, we see what we see is where we are. Okay, what we see in the midst of it is where we are. Like at the end of the day, when you're in the middle of a storm, all you can see is a storm. You can't see really what got you into the storm or why you're in the storm, or you know, you can't see anything because because it's hard. You know, it's like being in the thicket of it. You can't get loose from it. You just gotta stay there. Hallelujah. Amen. But how do you stay there? What's your posture look like while you're in the midst of the storm? That is what really counts. Hallelujah. Our posture in the midst of the storm, hallelujah. Just because we don't like storms don't mean that the storms don't come. Amen. But how do you handle the storm when it comes? Or do you sit with the reality of Romans 8:28? That all things work together for my good, amen. Those that are called for purpose, hallelujah of the Lord, and just simply love him, amen. He can work it out for our good, amen. Why? Because he can. Number one, he's God, he's God all by himself, and number two, because we trust him. Hallelujah. So, this is what you gotta remember in the midst of the storm, amen. While you're in the storm, it's working it for my good, he's working it for my good, he's working for my good. Like you gotta remind yourself, amen. You gotta remind your spirit, gotta remind the flesh. You are you are under my authority, talking about the spirit, the spirit telling your flesh, you're under my authority, and you have to listen to me, the spirit, hallelujah, because we're always wrestling, the spirit and the flesh, they're enity with one another one another, so there's always a wrestling match going on all the time between the spirit and the flesh. But I want to ask you tonight which one inside of you wins, hallelujah, which one will win? So I want you to hear this. Excuse me. But hear this. The things the things hidden are when the things hidden are when revealed produce lasting strength. I'm gonna say it again. When things hidden are when excuse me, y'all, excuse me. When the things that are hidden are revealed, they produce lasting strength. When the things that are hidden are revealed, they produce a lasting strength. Hallelujah. Why? Because it works together, even though it was hidden, it had purpose, and the purpose is what gave you the strength. Hallelujah. To keep on pressing, amen. Look for the hand of God, doesn't matter what you're going through, look for him, amen. And when you look for him, you'll see him, amen. You might not see him big and bright, but you'll see him, you see him say, mm-hmm. Hold on, just hold on. Hallelujah. Amen. There is something that's gonna happen along the way to keep your hope up here. Hallelujah. Keep your hope up, amen. When when you're operating in the spirit and God is promising you something, there is something that's gonna that's gonna trigger your yes, God, that thumb up, yes, God, yes, God, yes, God's gonna keep you believing and trusting that the process is gonna bring you through. Hallelujah, that the plan of God will exceed expectation. Come on, somebody, hallelujah. Look, don't despise small beginnings, hallelujah, because again, he wastes nothing, amen. You look, there's gonna be a season of isolation, there's gonna be a season of being unseen, being unheard, hallelujah. But he doesn't waste that quiet time, he doesn't waste that time where you know you got all these feelings and emotions going on. He doesn't waste any of it. Hallelujah. Look, hold to this a diamond must be cut to shine properly. Why? The reason is to increase its effectiveness. The cut hurt, does it? Yeah, the cut hurts, but what we gotta realize, and like a diamond, and with us, the cuts in the diamond is what brings the diamond, the value that it has. Hallelujah. So you gotta find your word, amen. And when you find your work, you'll see your value. Amen. Come on, somebody talk to me. You heard me? When you find your work, you're gonna see the value, you're gonna see the value in what you went through. This is why I said, write down what you survived, hallelujah. Because again, it's not until it's not until afterward that we see how we we can sit back and say, I'm so glad I went through that. Amen. I'm so glad that I went through it. It was hard. I wish that I hadn't went to it, went through it, but after I get through it, it's like, oh man, look at what came out of it. Hallelujah. I see what has come out of it, and then it's a beautiful thing. So I'm gonna give you a few more things and then we're done. We got about 10 more minutes in the show. Hallelujah. It might be less than that, but I'm getting ready to wrap up with my final thoughts and my final words. But hear these pressure is not proof, God has left you. Hallelujah. Pressure is not proof that God has left you, amen. Just because it's hard doesn't mean that he's not there. Hallelujah. You're just in the midst of a test that is bringing forth your testimony. Hallelujah. The mess that you're in is bringing your message alive. Hallelujah. To God be the glory. Fire reveals authenticity. Amen. The fire is what brings out you, amen. It brings out the real you, not a you that says, you know, this is what I'm supposed to be, this is what I should be. No, the fire brings you out. Hallelujah. I had to at 27, 28 years old, figure out what made me happy. Hallelujah. Actually, I think I was a little older than that. I had to figure out, I think I was like right at 30, 31. I had to figure out what made me happy because I had no clue. Right? I mean, I had, I felt like, you know, I got kids. You know, I'm 30, like I gotta get my stuff together. Hallelujah. But it was hard. So I can definitely, this definitely resonates with me. The fire absolutely brought out the authentic me. Me just being real with me and real with others. Hallelujah. Delays can develop depth. Delays can develop depth. D E P T H. The delay, the waiting period, make you go deeper. You hear what I'm saying? The waiting period absolutely can and will make you go deeper because you gotta figure out how to stay still. Amen. You gotta figure out how to how in those, how am I supposed to wait while I'm in the midst of anxiety or I'm anxious, I'm ready to go, ready to do this, ready to do that. I know it's time for me to do it, but God keeps saying to me, Hold on, just a little while longer, hold on, just a little while longer. He said, I'm gonna give you the wings that you need in order that you continue to hold to hold still to stay strong. Amen. Waiting ain't easy, but it is possible. God polishes what he plans to display. God polishes what he plans to display. Once again, there's that isolation, there's that uh moment of being unseen, there's that waiting period, there's that time where God is doing a work in you that you have nothing to do with. Hallelujah. It's just you moving in obedience in such a way where you know God is working on the inside. To show off on the outside, hallelujah. God is working on the inside, that's Him polishing so that it's seen on the outside. Hallelujah! Amen. To God be the glory. Look, I'm almost done. My throat is so dry, we repeat it out. Lord have mercy, y'all. Y'all pray for me. The process protects the promise. The process protects the promise. This is powerful, powerful, powerful. Because so many times we dismiss the process. But here's the thing when you dismiss the process, you miss the promise. Amen. Look, the promise is within the process. And if you shun away the process, you cannot get to the promise. Hallelujah. Amen. A whole lot of people waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for God to give them the promise, waiting for God to give them the promise. No, God is waiting on you. Amen. Stop dismissing your prior, your process. Stop trying to hurt, trying to get out of the process. You know, when we try to take shortcuts, go around, you know, make what we're doing something that's supposed to take a minute. We try to speed it up, try to fast forward, we try to find a quick way out of it. We're messing up the process, and it delays the promise. Amen. It can't, because again, it's wrapped up in the process. You cannot get the promise outside of the process. So this is why. Look, they go hand in hand. Amen. God will see you through the process to get to the promise. Hallelujah. Amen. So coming down to the last few minutes. I want to leave room to pray. The final thought, my final thought, is this the enemy thought the pressure would destroy you, but God, He used it to develop you. Every tear, delay, every pruning season, season, every hidden, hidden moment, none of it was wasted. None of it was wasted. Hallelujah. You hold on. Hold on, my sister. Hold on, my brother. Because ain't nothing you've done been through been wasted. Hallelujah. God will, can, and will use it to his glory for his plan and purpose for your life. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, thank you again for every single person that you drew in on today. Whether it's one or two, a thousand or two, Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that your will will be done, that you would come in, Lord, and continue to suck with each of us, that we might enjoy what you put in front of us. I pray in the name of Jesus. That even though we're going through this refinement process, that even in the midst of the hard places and things we can't see or understand, that we will walk with a mind that says, This is all working for my good. I pray God you'll continue to shape us, make us mold us to the men and women of God you desire us to be. Father, I want to ask you just to have your way here. God, we just blank, bless your name and so grateful and so thankful for who you are. I pray, God, in the name of Jesus, you will continue to draw us one by one and name by name to you, Father. Draw us to your word, give us a supernatural understanding. Pray that there be a quickening in our understanding, God. I pray, God, that you will continue to just bless us such a way that we know that you continue to provide all that we need and then some. Father, we love you so much. We're so grateful and so thankful. Also pray for that one to prayer that says pray for me. God, I pray in the name of Jesus that whatever the need might be, God, you would answer, God, that you're God all by yourself. God, I love you so much, and I'm so grateful and so thankful. I pray that this prayer, my prayer, our prayer, is pleased and acceptable in your sight. We pray it, we ask it in the mighty and precious name of Jesus Christ. We do pray. Amen. Amen and amen. Hallelujah. Again, I say thank you so much for being here with me. Make sure that you get your notebook, you reflect. Write down, write down whatever comes to your mind. Hallelujah. Write it down, and it won't hurt, but it won't do anything but bless you from season to season. That journal will. So much love from me. Do you have a great and blessed day, blessed week? Come on back with me next week as we journey and we uh jump into our next subject, which is gonna be perfected through process. Perfected through process. We're gonna jump in on that last verse of our anchor scripture, verse four in particular on next week. So I look forward to it. Blessings and love once again from me to you. Have a great day.