Watching the Fire

Many of you that read here might be wondering "why" you have to walk this path and stand.  Why did my marriage crumble?  Why did my spouse leave?  Why did my spouse cheat? Why?  Why?  Why after endless why?

Don't think that we are going to give you the answer for "why."  We, on occasion (with a whole lot of help from Holy Spirit), can have some profound revelation.  However, we are never so amazing that we could come up with "why."

We don't know the "why" but we do know that the Heavenly Father will use the situation you are in to purify you.  Listen to this verse...

Malachi 3:3 He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross.  He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.  (NLT)

While we were worshipping this morning in church, this verse rose up and landed in my spirit.  It's not the first time I have read this or meditated on this verse.  I have preached this many times in the past.  This verse makes it very clear that the Lord will do 2 things.

1.  He will refine you.  His goal through the whole process is for you to be purified so that you can once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.

2.  He will sit and wait you out.  He is patient.  Eternally patient.  He can sit while all of your impurities are burned up.  He will patiently wait for your bad attitude to be burned up.  He will patiently wait for your fear to be burned up.  He will patiently wait for you to trust Him.  His divine and infinite patience will easily outlast your human and finite stubbornness.

But this wasn't the point of this verse being dropped on me today.  Like I said, I have preached this before.  The point wasn't what His goal is and how patient He is.  There was something new that He wanted to show me.  This is what He said to me.

Not only is He watching the silver and gold...
Not only is He watching the purification process...
Not only is He watching the impurities being burned up...

But He is also watching the fire!

The refiner is paying attention to many things while performing his job.  The precious metal, the impurities, and (maybe the most crucial to the refining process) the fire.

If the impurities are not coming out and being burned off, it means that the fire is not hot enough and He must stoke the fire.  If the precious metals are being burned, it means that the fire is too hot and He must cool it down.  Maintaining the proper amount of fire to accomplish the purification is a never ending job.  Constantly heating up and cooling down.  He wants the impurities out but does not want to harm the precious metal.  Thankfully, one of our Heavenly Father's names is...Master.  He is not a novice.  He is not an amateur refiner.  He is not in training.  He is the Master.  He knows precisely what He is doing.

You are His most precious, most highly regarded treasure.  He would not harm you.  He cannot even imagine it.  His will is for you to be perfected by Him, not by you.  He wants the impurities out of you, therefore He must subject you to the fire.  He does not bring the fire to your life for harm but for purification.  And His eye stays on you and on the fire.

The silver and gold cannot tell the Master when all of the imperfections have been removed.  We cannot because we lack perspective.  But, from where the Master sits patiently, He can see you, your imperfections, and the fire.  None of them escape His purview.  The way in which you respond to the fire tells the Master when it is time to remove you from the fire.

I am not saying that He has made this most unfortunate season happen in your life.  He will however use it for your best.  He will use the fire that is causing you pain and turn it into glory.  This may not bring you comfort as to the "why's" of your life.  However, I pray that it brings you peace knowing that He is watching the fire.  It will not blaze out of His control.  It will do nothing that He has not already accounted for.  He will turn the destruction of the enemy into a tool for your blessing.

Keep standing!

Josh and Serena

Continued Blessings

Hey everyone!  In case you have been wondering, we are still here.  Still standing; still fighting; still praying for you and marriages worldwide.

Date Night!!

We have received a few emails from some of you about why we haven't been posting.  It's not because we don't have anything to say.  We have plenty left to say about marriage and restoration.  Our number one reason for not posting is that we have been focusing on us.  Don't worry; we are fine.  We purposed a long time ago to not allow ministry obligations and expectations to overwhelm our life.  We purposed to make sure that our footing is sure.  This is a dangerous war that we (you and us) are in.  Our family is our number one priority.  Secondly, we purposed to only write as the Lord leads.      He has been leading us, however not to the point that He would have us write.  But, lately, we have been feeling a stirring.  He is birthing a new season.  Pray for us as we continue to seek God on what he has for us in this ministry of helping hurting marriages.

On a fun note, we just welcomed our 7th blessing.....a number of completion. Her name is Hadassah Joy, and the Lord has shown us so much in the last week about her life and her destiny and many spiritual lessons.  Please join us in welcoming Hadassah Joy, born on 10-25-13, at 9:39 pm. 8 lbs. 11 oz. This pregnancy was the most challenging; her delivery the most complicated and dangerous....but we have found joy.  We pray that through all of your challenges you can find joy.

Last night a storm was raging outside, and we had been contentedly watching TV until instantly the power went off.  No flicker, no warning; just pitch black. We looked outside, and the weather was really bad. We checked on our phones to see if there was a warning and our area was under Tornado Watch. We checked back outside and it appeared that one of the power lines outside was hanging very low.  We debated about calling the power company to report an issue. We decided to just go to bed and rest knowing that God would protect us. Having a 7 day old makes sleep more precious than worrying about the winds blowing around us.

This morning we looked out and the power line looked like it was the same as it was last night, and as we discussed it we also realized that it's always been hanging that low. Isn't it amazing that in the middle of a storm something can look much worse than it really is?  During the storm, are we focusing on the power line or are we focusing on the fact that our protection and safety is found in Him? Are we realizing that He is working things out for our good and perhaps things aren't even as bad as they seem? Our focus needs to be much deeper than outward circumstances making our lives seems worse than they are. Our joy needs to be rooted in Christ, not shaken by the storms raging around us.

This month marks a delicate time for us.  This month marks 6 years from when Josh returned home, both to our family and to the Lord.  The wound is no longer fresh and gaping, but the memory of that terrible time is never far from us.  The King receives all the glory for what has taken place in our life over the last few years.  Since the day that our lights suddenly went black and He restored us, we have been blessed with numerous blessings.  He has added to us 3 new children, taken away $60,000 in debt, allowed Josh to write a book, allowed us to impact numerous marriages for the Kingdom, and brought us into a Kingdom-minded community of friends.  We have learned so much and are excited to be on the path that He has set before us.  Truly, God has blessed us and we feel so humbled.

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

Keep praying for us as we continue to raise high the name of our Lord, the Restorer of all things.

Standing, 

Josh and Serena 

Pentecost Sunday

On Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, they were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those gifts helped them to fulfill their mission to preach the Gospel to all nations. For us, too, those gifts are given when we ask, and we are infused them, the life of God in our souls--then can help us to live a Christian life. This book is not meant to take the place of the power of the Holy Spirit, in fact, we encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for His help.  Standing is a battle you do not want to do alone, having the Holy Spirit's help is vitally important.

 In celebration of Pentecost Sunday we are offering Josh's book for free.  Starting Sunday at 12 am (PST) to  11:59 pm on Sunday you can download  the book for free on Amazon.  The link is in the sidebar.

Be blessed,
Josh and Serena

Proof Through The Night

A few nights ago, we were at a baseball game celebrating 2 of our kid's birthdays.  And, like before any professional sports event, our national anthem was played.  While it was being sung some of the words stuck out to us and immediately the Lord showed us the stander's application.  Here are the words in the first verse of our anthem:

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

To explain what this means to a regular person: Our flag was still proudly waving in the midst of the fight while we are hunkered down in the safety of the tower.  And when the rockets and bombs exploded, it illuminated the darkness and we could see our flag still standing.

While listening to this we thought of the fight that many of us face everyday.  We have spiritual bombs and rockets exploding all around us.  The battle is being fiercely fought around us on all sides.  Everywhere that we look we see the battle.  We see wounded soldiers and comrades.  We see structures in our life being torn down and destroyed by the enemy.  We see our own wounds and hurts.  And although these things are happening all around us, we should not be looking at these things.

Photo Credit

In military jargon a flag is often called a "standard."  The standard was always meant to be advancing, never retreating.  The standard was always at the forefront of the battle.  Those that carried the standard into battle were charged with keeping it raised.  And if that soldier fell while carrying it forward, another soldier was to pick it up, raise it up, and continue advancing.  During the battle, soldiers would look above the melee and focus on the advancing standard.  If he got lost during the fight, he looked to the standard.  If he did not know which was was advancing, he looked to the standard.  He knew that if he would press toward the standard that he would, without a doubt, find others that were committed to the advancing standard and could join with them.

Friends, as believers our standard is not a simple flag made up of red, white, and blue colors.  Our standard is the Word of God.  The Word is what we always look to.  The Word is what goes before us and what we always rally to.  Go back and reread the previous paragraph with this knowledge in mind.

Now back to the national anthem...while the fight is ongoing we look from the safety of shelter of God and can see His Word still standing.  When the enemy's rockets and bombs burst around us we are not touched.  What was meant to cause us to cower in fear and despair actually brings us hope.  When the bombs burst we see the Word still standing.  When the rockets explode we see the Word still standing.  The enemy's attack is confirmation that.....His Word still stands!  The enemy only will stop attacking when he wins or the standard has fallen.  Do not let the standard fall!

That brings up another point...we are responsible for backing the standard, the Word.  We must always run to the Word.  Not for fear that it will fall because the One that holds the standard never falters and never fails.  We run to and back the Word to find the strength to continue fighting.  Something happens when we join with the Standard Bearer, Jesus.  When we run to the Standard and He who bears it, we find the most fearsome of fighters holding it tall.  We find the King of kings holding it.  Exodus 15:3 says that He is a man of war and the Lord is His name.  Hosea 12:5 says that He is the Lord God of Heaven's Armies.  This is who is holding your standard.

Any earthly king would entrust the standard to an expendable soldier.  However, our God takes His only Son, dresses Him like us and places Him on the front lines to bear the standard.  He is not a passive or weak man.  He is not easily frightened.  He is the Prince of Peace, not because He can draft a treaty but because He will bring peace to His child by His presence, peace to the situation by His Word, and peace to the enemy by His actions.  More than once in the Word we find God coming to the rescue of His people with tangible acts against their enemy.  He did it because they did not look at the situation but looked to the standard.

Many times we have asked for your prayers.  We do again today.  This blog puts us on the front lines of this fight.  We did not choose to be here.  In all honesty, it would be a lot easier for us if we didn't have this ministry.  But this was not a decision that we have the privilege to make.  Our standard bearer calls us to Himself and He is on the front lines. And we simply obey.  We are not the standard or the standard bearer; we are only rallying to it and to Him.

We would encourage you to run to the standard and the One who carries it.  Run to the Word.  Run to Jesus.  Don't be afraid of the bombs going off around you.  Run to the Word.  Don't allow the rockets to cause your steps to be shortened.  Run to Jesus.  Your enemy is not your spouse.  Run to the Word.  The enemy has tried to stop the One who bears the standard once before....and he failed!  So, run to Jesus.

He holds the standard.

He holds you!

Rallying towards the standard....

Josh and Serena