Cornerstone

God has been speaking so much to me about reaping and sowing and breaking down and rebuilding, restoration for years of decayed and broken dreams.  I look at all the old He has stripped away, things demolished things so far removed that even the memories of them seem a bit unclear.  I was reading a devotional about the fiery furnace and the three boys Rach, Shac and Benny...why yes, I am quoting Veggie Tales, because otherwise I could not spell their names....

When faced with bowing down to worship someone other that God or die, they chose God.  They knew He could step in, but even if He didn't, they could.not.do.it.  I had a little taste of that this past week.  I was not being threatened with flames, but honestly, the trials that we face in each of our lives are just that, our very own furnace.  What I was facing was my own weakness, the things I struggle with.  And would I trust Him enough to say, it's just not in me to do things the way I have in the past, I trust You Lord, even if this feels like I'm going down in flames.  Sometimes it takes the flames to burn away the things that hold us in bondage. And what we tend to find once we step out is that He has refined us, like gold, stronger for letting the things that do not belong be consumed by His grace, Him mercy, His truth, His blood.

Psalm 127 says that unless God builds the house, that it's builders labor in vain.  I can testify to that.  Shaky foundations crumble when pressure is applied.  But as I have been looking at the pictures of what my family is right this very minute, I see a house that God is building.  I see what has come out of the fire, us, His own workmanship, and I see a strength that can only come from a foundation that has a true Cornerstone.  Thankful.