Yesterday I told you about three out of ten books that have impacted me. Here I tell you about two more.
4. As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur. I’d heard Kay speak about the principles in this book, but I’m really glad she laid them out in black and white.
“Our enemy has at least three major strategies of weakening us before the major battles come,” she writes. “One of them is simple distraction. He wants us to focus on anything except what is truly important. How often are you and I like Martha, drawn away and distracted from the one thing that is needful (Luke 10:40-42, KJV)?
Do I know about distraction? Ummm, yeah.
Kay writes about the “Deadly D’s” of disappointment, discouragement, dejection, despair, and demoralization and compares them to basic warfare principles–of penetrating the line of defense like an arrow at the weakest point–often spiritually with a disappointment–an event that shatters our personal expectations. We need to fix our thoughts on that disappointment as an appointment–change the “D” to an “H.” Disappointment–His Appointment. And with that “H” comes hope–hope that does not disappoint. It’s the best way to keep the rest of the weapons of attack at bay before they crush us.
In the first chapter, Kay describes the refining of silver. She reminds us that we are God’s silver, and He will use our trials so that “in the pressure of their heat we’ll see the impurities of our lives being released and rising to the top. Then He’ll skim them off, purifying us, refining us.” Whenever my response to a test disgusts me, I try not to dwell on it but to remind myself that the dross in rising to be scraped away.
And then there’s this:
And oftentimes He’ll place you, His living epistle, in the same kind of fire, the same kind of disappointments and trials that so many others experience. He’ll put you with them in the same hospital, or He’ll allow you to suffer rejection or allow you to live with a rebel or to experience a financial blow. In any of a variety of disappointments, He lets you hurt as others hurt, knowing that the way in which you handle this hurt will be an undeniable testimony that there’s something awesomely different about you.
5. Gaining Through Losing by Evelyn Christenson. I read this book as I walked through several losses, including having been pulled from a place where I thought I was forever planted, away from friends I loved, to a new place where my husband would travel most of the time. At the same time, I was on the journey through infertility, corrective surgery, and an ectopic pregnancy that ultimately ended with my inability to ever bear a child.
Evelyn describes God’s “so that” principle that runs through Scripture. “In effect God says to us, “I am permitting this unpleasant experience so that you may gain . . . so that you may gain a new insight, so that you will be richer in your experiences and thereby help someone going through a similar problem . . . So we can see that testings and trials are actually a compliment from God” so that He can set the stage for gain. So that in pruning through loss, we can bear not just fruit–not just more fruit, but much fruit, eternal fruit.
“Don’t waste your losses!” she emphasizes.
Both Evelyn and Kay sealed the truth of God’s sovereignty to my hurting heart.
On a final note, I just paged through to these words that really spoke to me then and speak to me now.
The sufferings recorded in the Bible seem so frequently to be related to gaining. There is a little word–an important preposition that shows relationship–that is the key. T h r o u g h.
A speaker introducing Joyce Landorf at a convention said, “Every time I see Joyce, she has just come through a crisis.” I suddenly saw what a compliment that was, and when I had an occasion to introduce her, I explained to the audience: “He did not say she was in a crisis, but had just come through a crisis–making her the successful author/singer/speaker that she is–giving her insight and answers for the people whom she is addressing.
But we cannot come through one without being in one.
And shortly after reading this book, I was able to minister to another out of my own pain.
Come back tomorrow for Part 3. And who knows… maybe there’ll be a Part 4. But for now, I’m immersing myself back into these books and remembering.
Word count: 764
How do you cope with disappointments and losses in your life?
In the stillness,
Sandy
That Kay Arthur book is very special to me. I like to say that it “found” me. It helped see me through a very difficult seasion.
Mine is bent up and marked up. I go back to it often.
Kay Arthur!!! Yes, Yes! a thousand times yes! As I’d said, it was impossible to list just ten (like i t’s impossible to eat just one Lays potato chip!) I didn’t think of her initially, b/c I generally associate her with in depth Bible studies, which I used to facilitate years ago. But the first devotional I ever read was by Kay. She’s a prolific author and so well-grounded in truth. And I love As Silver Refined, where she talks about the five deadly D’s, which she attributes to another author, but upon which she elabaorates extensively. I’d recommend any of her “Lord” books for those who don’t have longer times to study. They’re stlil very meaty. And if your readers can get to Precept in Chattanooga, it will be a life-transforming experience. She teachers at a number of conferences there. this is a great exercise in pooling our resources, Sandy. Thank you!!!!
LYnn
Israel, My Beloved; With An Everlasting Love… How Can I Live?
I think I told you I first met Kay when she’d come down to Marietta weekly to teach. I got to spend a week at the “ranch” in the 80’s, and you’re right–it was life changing. I so want to go to Israel with her, but I don’t know if it’ll ever work out. Thinking I might just have to head to Chattanooga again soon. 🙂
Yes, those are wonderful books, too. No, you’d not told me about sitting at her feet! Amazing! I’ve gotten to do that 3 x, but only amongst a larger group of women. I also met Kay at CBA, and she was very encouraging. Additionally, I had written her to see if I could interview her when I was last at the Precept Ranch, a # of years ago, and she very graciously declined, b/c she would be ministering to so many women. But Emilie Barnes was speaking too that day, and I lassoed her instead, and she gave me my very first interview. She and I have corresponded ever since. She, too, is a precious woman of God. You bring back special memories. I would love going back to Precept again!!!
xxoo.
L
I do believe we are book kindred spirits. Many of the authors you have mentioned have mentored me through their written words.
Love it! 🙂
Absolutely marked up Kay’s “Refined” book on a trip one time and left in a restroom stall in an airport. I realized it before I boarded the next plane and went back to retrieve it. It was gone. I prayed that God had put that book in someone’s hands that it would minister to like it did to me. I have always thought I would get another copy but I never have. Kay is the “mother” who taught me to revere God’s Word, to come to it to learn from it. I don’t color code or mark anymore but my approach to God’s Word changed when I saw how it came alive in Kay’s life.
Getting through Losing need to be on my list. God wastes nothing—even our losses. He’s that big, that good. Such comfort… thanks for sharing again. 🙂