We all go through seasons in our life. Some are dry seasons and some are wet seasons. We have seasons where it feels like we are on the mountains and sometimes we are in the valley. There are times in our life where we feel like nothing can go right and like our world is falling apart. We get bad news after bad news, relationships fall apart, we pray and don’t feel like God is answering our prayers. But God is right beside us in the hard seasons just as much as he is with us in the easy seasons. He is with us during our mountaintop seasons and when we are in our valley seasons! Deuteronomy 31:6 Says that “he will NEVER leave you nor forsake you.” I was talking to a friend today and realized that it is in the hard seasons in our life where God is refining and purifying us. To refine means – to remove impurities or unwanted elements from a substance. The process of refining and purifying precious metals involves the metals being melted over intense heat. This causes the impurities to rise to the surface and then they can be removed. It is the same in the spiritual realm. The trials that we go through is the fire that God uses to refine us to become more like him. I find that it is in these seasons of trial that I seek God more…it’s the time where God grows me and shows me more of who he is. I think that instead of being frustrated when I go through a trial I need to actually be thankful because it is in this process that God is making me more like him. If we never had trials would we be dependent on God? I don’t think so. I think if I had an easy life and never experienced hardship, grief, and pain I would not be dependent on God the way that I am because of those things. James tells us to “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4 I remember my dad showing my siblings and I this verse when we were going through a trial in our family. As a 15 year old I was very confused…I needed to be joyful in my trial? Who the heck had joy in the midst of deep loss? How could I be joyful when someone I loved very deeply was taken away from me? Now, 10 years later I can see that the joy comes in knowing that the trial is producing steadfastness (A life of faithful endurance amid troubles and afflictions) in me. I can be firm in my faith and know that God is making me perfect and complete so that I lack nothing. I can have joy knowing that in the midst of my trial God is making me more and more like him. So even though it sounds like a really tough thing to do let’s be joyful in the midst of our trial! Lets allow God to refine us and purify us in the fire.