#194 Chosen In The Furnace Of Affliction

Some pain doesn’t mean you’re failing, it means you’re being refined. We take April’s old saying “April showers bring May flowers” and turn it into a spiritual reality: the rain readies the ground to produce, and refinement often starts when life feels heavy, messy, and uncomfortable.

We anchor in Isaiah 48:10-11 and sit with the phrase “chosen in the furnace of affliction.” That scripture gives language to what so many believers experience but struggle to explain: separation and purification. We talk about how refinement filters out what devalues you, why stagnation can happen when we refuse the process, and how the biggest battleground is often the inner me, your mind, your fears, and the quiet pressure nobody sees. We also share why slowing down matters, because focus brings clearer instructions and keeps you aligned with God’s timing.

Then we walk through five common afflictions that can show up during spiritual growth: loss, isolation, mental warfare, closed doors, and pressure. We unpack how loss can reveal what couldn’t go to the next level, how isolation can remove distractions so you can hear God, how mental warfare can push you into faith, how closed doors can be protection for your purpose, and how pressure can be a sign that God trusts you with more.

If you’ve been wondering why it hurts, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs strength, and leave a review if the message lands. Which of the five afflictions are you facing right now?

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

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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 Reset

Refinement Means Letting Go

Isaiah 48 And The Furnace

Slow Down To Hear God

Why God Allows Affliction

Five Common Afflictions Named

Loss And Trust Like Job

Isolation Without Distractions

Mental Warfare Into Faith

Closed Doors Protect Purpose

Pressure Means God Trusts You

Final Thoughts On Refinement

Closing Prayer For Release

Where To Listen And Return

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Hello, hello, and welcome back, guys. Diamonds and the Ruff. We are so glad to be before you one more time. How God, how good has God been to you? He's absolutely been wonderful to me. Hallelujah. I hope that you can hear me well. I am trying to get myself situated in the spot that I am in. Uh to God be the glory. Amen. God is so good. Absolutely. So again, I say I hope that you had a great day. When you're tuning into this, whether it be morning, noon, or night, I hope that you are able to glean from what God gives me. Hallelujah to give to you. Um this month we are starting a brand new month. April Flower. April? April? April, what is it? April flower, but April. Oh man, I hated my I think it's wrong. I wrote it in here, but I think it's wrong. But anyhow, and anywho, April something brings May flowers. Yeah, April showers. That's what it is. Ha ha, I told you I get it. I get it eventually. April showers bring May flowers. That's and the reason why that is, is because we endure a lot of rain. Yeah. I know I'm not the only one. You heard what I'm saying? We endure a lot of rain. But uh the rain readies the ground to produce. Yes, and this is how we get to make flowers. Yes, a simple rhyme. This is something I heard all my life. I just couldn't get it together. But uh, in essence, that's I mean, that's really what's happened. That's why you bring May flowers because it's so much rain typically in April. Yeah, a lot of rain, but it's preparing the ground, yeah. Uh so all of that being said, this month we're gonna be talking all about what refinement uh has to do with separation and purification. But first, y'all know what we gotta do. I got my girls right here. I got my angels in front of me. Yes, I love angels. So if you ever want to buy me anything, buy me an angel. You heard me? An angel or an elephant? Hallelujah. Uh, angels are about protection, elephants of elephants are about prosperity. Hoofs up. Yes. Ah, that was a little nugget for somebody. You heard me? Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your grace and your mercy. Thank you, God, for allowing us to be able to come together to um get a word from you. Uh, I just pray that the show is a blessing to each and everyone that comes across it. I pray that you would have your way. We give you glory, honor, and praise. In Jesus Christ's name I do pray. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. So it's time to get serious now. Yes. So when we take a look at this this month of April, we're gonna be, we have gone from the call to refinement, then we went into the fire, and now we move into again the separation and purification and focusing on letting go. But we know and we realize that when we're looking at separation, you know, what was together comes apart. And when we're talking about purification, I I I just equate the purification and refinement is as being processed, things are being filtered out so that what when the when the filteration process is through, what is able to be used as a better form, yes, it is a stronger form, it is just overall better. Hallelujah! And we've described it as we went along this far, it's more valuable, yes. This is why silver and gold is goes through that purification process because it's gotta get all of the junk out of it that's devaluing it, and so I just love how God has given us this topic to be able to go through the whole year about refinement because so many times we we bring our we stop our process, we stop moving, we stop growing because we don't understand what is happening, and and and and you know it's unfortunate that some people are unwilling to go through the process, but the result of being unwilling to go through the process is stagnation. You heard what I'm saying? Stagnation is like having your car sitting in neutral, it wants to go, it could go, but you gotta put it either in drive or reverse in order for it to move. Because if you don't do one or the other, it moves based on the conditions. So if it's on, so what do I mean? If it's on the heel, it's going to because it's in neutral, it has no choice but to drift back because of gravity. You heard what I'm saying? But if you're trying to go forward, then somebody gotta push. You need a couple folks that can push that car to where it needs to go. And see, while they're pushing, somebody has to steer because it's not getting the gas or anything, it's moving, but it requires a whole lot more to push forward than it does to roll back. You don't want to become stagnant, stagnant in your walking on this journey. Hallelujah! Amen. So, our scripture, I I think I said it and I hope it said it. The focus again is on letting go this entire month, is letting go and really being able to walk into what it is God have us to go to and through. Hallelujah. And so now let's take a look at our anchor scripture for the month, and it's Isaiah 48 verse 10. It says, Behold, I have refined thee. He says, But not with silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, hallelujah. He said, I'm not doing it like I would do it with the silver or the gold, he said, but I'm doing it through affliction. Hold on, I'm pausing and it on purpose and for a purpose. Look, is anybody under wonder why? Why did the spirit lead us to this particular verse? Well, I feel like the spirit led us to this particular verse because the refining fire typically happens within hallelujah. The greatest battle that we have, and our greatest enemy is the inner me. We are constantly battling in our mind over everything. You hear what I'm saying? And so, like at the end of the day, the title of our show today is chosen in the furnace of affliction. This verse, okay? In the latter part of this verse is the title of our of our show today. Being chosen in the furnace of affliction. And most of us don't like it because it hurts. You know what I'm saying? It don't feel good. And so because it hurts, and I don't, I just want to get back comfortable. I want to get back where this doesn't hurt anymore. Like when you when you experience loss, I mean, like nobody wants to feel the weight of loss. Nobody wants to experience, look, I never, I will never see this thing again. I will never possess it again. I'll never see that person again in the earth. We don't want to experience that. We want to hold on to people and things like they never have an expiration date. We know it with our head. We don't understand it with our heart. Hallelujah. But what this is one thing that I've learned. Look, wait a minute, Catherine, slow down, slow down. I get I'm getting ahead of myself, y'all. I'm getting ahead of myself. Look, I got notes for a reason. Look, I promise you, if you've been with me any number of times, this is new to me. Going by notes. Because I've already said it before. I'm a free spirit. I just let the spirit move. But there's a level of order, and it's a part of my process. God is refining me, He is making me do some things that are uncomfortable. Yes. Like I don't like going by notes. I've already said that. I don't like going by notes because I feel like it slows me down from where I think I'm supposed to be. But what sometimes we need to slow down. Hallelujah. We need to slow down long enough that God can speak clearer. Not that he's not speaking to us, it's not that he's not leading us. But when we slow down, our instructions get clearer, clearer. It's the same thing as focus. When you got that camera, you focus in on something in particular, it becomes sharper. You get to see the details clearer, and it comes more toward you than it did before you just kind of just real fast moving it around, chick, chick, chick, chick, you know. And all I don't know if you ever took a picture and you noticed how sometimes it looked like looked like the picture is like going in fast. You didn't caught it fast forward. It's because you didn't slow down fast enough for the camera lens to be able to focus on what you was trying to take a picture of, or because it was moving while you were trying to take the picture. I I I don't know. I I I know if you've ever taken a picture before, then you understand what I'm saying. Sometimes that we can do we can trick God like that. We can be going so fast that He He's trying to get us to focus right here, but we are all the way over here. You hear what I'm saying? So that's what I find myself. Him saying, No, I need you to focus right here. You I that's good that you want to get there, but it ain't time yet. Slow down. Hallelujah. So look, I promise you, I told y'all, I'm a student. Hallelujah. He used me as as a teacher, but I'm still a student. Hallelujah. Ever learning to God be the glory. So God allows, God allows us to go through trials and tribulations. That is one thing that we have to hold to and understand. That, you know, we are going to experience affliction, but we gotta know there's a purpose in that. Hallelujah. And he don't just allow it just for us to hurt, for us to be in pain and all of those things. No, he's allowing it because there's something he wants us to be able to experience, us to be able to achieve. Let me, let me, let me, let me. Okay. This right here, what I just said, God allows the trials and tribulations, is attached to the next verse of our anchor scripture. It's verse 11. I'm just gonna read it real quick so that we got a full picture of what my what this comment I just made about God allows the trials and tribulations, and the other thought that I have, it's attached to this verse 11. He said, For my own sake, he says, even for my own sake, he says, Will I do it? So he didn't say it one time, but he said it twice. He said, I'm doing this because of who I am. Okay, he says, Will I do it? He said, I'm gonna do it because I cannot and I will not lie. I I stand on who I am, he says, because you know, try the spirit by the spirit. That makes sense. Look, he says, for how should my name be polluted? Like, we're not gonna make him out to be a liar. And this is what he says, you're not gonna make me out to be a liar. He says, and I will not give my glory unto another. So he will not allow anything or anyone to discredit or dishonor him and take his name or steal his glory. So whatever he said he will do, he will do it. Hallelujah. And look, he said, look, if I got I I said it and I'm gonna honor what I said. I am who I am. Like whatever God said, we can bank on it. Hallelujah. We can't bank on it. And what you what we have to realize is that he allows the trials, he allows the tribulations because he is a he is who he is. Amen. There is something he is accomplishing through the struggle that you are getting, you are in. But here's the thing, you gotta realize you're gonna come to the to the to the reality. If you keep on trusting in the Lord, you keep on trusting that he is for you and not against you, you're gonna come into an alignment with him that says, I am chosen. Hallelujah. Despite what it looked like and despite what it feels like, I have been chosen by God himself. Hallelujah. So we are about halfway through the show. Hallelujah. And so I hope I don't go too fast. But and I'm gonna try to, I'm gonna try to uh yeah, uh yeah. This is a whole time thing, I'm telling you. So I think I have come up with five, well, I wouldn't say I, I would say we, me and the Lord, have come up with five common afflictions that we endure, that in the midst of them, we realize we are chosen. Okay, so in the midst, I'm gonna say it again, in the midst of whatever you're going through, you have that moment that says, oh, and you you know, you just kind of sit there like wow, yeah. These are the afflictions that I we believe that I heard and I understand, and I can't even front. I I got Chad GPT to help me a little bit. That's my friend, yeah. Chat BT GPT is very smart, y'all. Y'all should try. Yeah, smart. We'll help you organize your thoughts, you know, because a whole lot we know, we just don't know how to actually bring it out. Yeah. So, number one for me, for me, and this is what this is this hits home for me. Like, this is the first one, and this is number one, and I know it for myself, is loss. Okay. I don't I don't know if you've ever experienced loss in what capacity that loss entails who you lost, but loss can be traumatic. You know, it can be it can it can break you if your trust ain't in the right place. And it can make you it can be it can, I mean, literally, it can. Somebody say, by God, whether it's a person, an opportunity, or anything that made you feel secure, what you find out in the midst of the loss is that they or it could not go where he's taking you. Hallelujah. Now, for the one that's kind of like because see, when it comes down to loss, I feel like it's like it very sensitive, very sensitive because you know, you just don't know what somebody else has been through. Hallelujah. And so I I tread lightly when I say that, but I truly do believe that loss, you know, loss is something that we we that we just can't understand it. We can't come to grips with, you know, that loved one, that's somebody that we cared about, is no longer in the earth. Like we got to learn how to live our life now without them here. You heard what I'm saying? And, you know, beyond people, but uh opportunities that kind of because we didn't seize them in that moment, they go by. And we realize that, oh man, I should have, I if I could have, and I would have. And we had we speak that language, it's like what can you do about it now? You know, but realize that, you know, what I thought was the perfect opportunity, or I thought I didn't need that, was the thing that could not go where I'm going. Hallelujah. Anything that felt secure, like a job, a home, that was a sense of security. And all of a sudden it's like it's like that rug been pulled out away from under you. And you're trying to come to grips with this is where am I now? Like, what am I supposed to do? But that's what you gotta, that's what you come to realize that. Look, I'm if I realize that I'm chosen, then I realize that look, they are not there for a reason. I don't have that any longer for a reason. And come to the grips, look, it just couldn't go to the next level. Hallelujah. It can't go where God wants to take you now. Hallelujah. Put your trust because just like Job, everything that he lost, it was restored at the end of that trial that he had. Hallelujah. And all the while, what did he say? Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Hallelujah. Even though it seems horrible, it seems like you ain't gonna be able to breathe again. Like at the end of the day, if your trust is in him, he will bring you through the worst part of the storm and walk you into a bright sunny day again if you keep on trusting him. Number two, isolation. Isolation, it allows God to have your attention without distractions. When you get to the place where you just can't be around anybody, I've been there. You're married and remember one time I was I was went on a fast for three days, and I had my took my kids to I think my my sister or somebody, I don't know, for the weekend, and said, nobody called me, and I completely shut myself off from the world. And I didn't talk to anybody at all. But that was it, and that was that by the leading of the Lord. In that experience, God, I heard God at that time louder than I'd ever heard him. So don't despise the isolation. Sometimes you got to get away from everything and just be with him so you can hear him and what he's saying to you. Hallelujah. Don't despise it. Some people, they they are, they don't, they can't rest until they get by themselves at times. Hallelujah. They love community, but sometimes they just need to be by themselves, and that's that isolation piece. That's where God is where He speaks the loudest and the clearest. Why? Because you have nothing else to distract you. You can cut off your phone, you can cut off the TV, you can cut off everything. Hallelujah, and totally disconnect from the world for a time. Hallelujah. And you know, whether it's two days, a day, a couple of hours, whatever it is, when you follow the Spirit and He and if He leads you to do that, like take advantage of it because it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing. Hallelujah. It is a good thing. How many times did Jesus go off? He left the disciples and he went off. The Bible says he went off to be with the Lord, he went off to pray, he went off to be with the Father. Hallelujah. So that's a part of you know, when you're when you're in a place when you're doing it, you're being chosen. Hallelujah. What is the affliction? Like, like okay, sometimes the affliction might be health issues, right? And you find yourself bound to a bed. I'm just making an example. You find yourself bound to a bed. You can't get up. You know, you gotta, you know, somebody's gotta wait on you, hand and foot. But if Eventually they stop coming for a time span, whether it's in the middle of the night, whatever. And you can't do nothing. You can't do nothing but lay there. You heard what I'm saying? This is why a lot of people, when they go to prison, they come out, they done gave their life to Christ. Because they ain't had nothing for a whole lot of time. You know, you wonder why they go into jail, why they go, why, why are they sitting in the hospital for all of this time? Isolation. This is how he could get to them to where and to a point where he could talk to them uninterrupted without a whole bunch of distractions. I hope that makes sense. All right, number three. I hope y'all got your journal. I didn't talk about the journal, but I hope you got your journals and writing writing these notes down. Cause you can look back over them another day. Okay? Mental warfare. Okay? Mental warfare warfare. You know, to have doubt, to have fear, to worry, to overthink. Like we know out the top, I shouldn't be doing, I shouldn't feel this way. But sometimes it's necessary so that you can realize that there is more. Hallelujah. That there's more than what what you're dealing with right at this point. Hallelujah. And look, you realize, oh wait, when you stop overthinking, when you stop doubting, when you stop moving in fear, but moving in faith, like then you look, the internal warfare, then you can say, oh man, I'm glad. I'm glad that I because typically when we got these things going on, where do we go? We're drawn to the word because we're trying to figure it out. You heard what I'm saying? We're trying to figure out how to get past these feelings. Because at the end of the day, say you got a surgery coming up, or you got, you know, you got a business adventure or venture you are thinking about doing, or you know, you got to pick up the phone to call somebody. But you push past the doubt, you push past the overthinking, you push past the fear, and you operate in faith. You push past the thing that says no, and you say yes, and you're like, oh wow. Like, like that the fear and the fear and the doubt and the overthinking, all of that was necessary for you to be able to walk in what God says is true. That makes sense. I hope so. I hope it makes sense. Hallelujah. Number four, because my time is winding down. I gotta hurry up. Number four, close doors. Anybody ever had that happen? It seemed like everything, you try everything, it seems like nothing works. Nothing. You heard what I'm saying? It seemed like you, you hear. I know we've all said it. I take two steps forward, it seems like I get pushback forward. You heard what I'm saying? Close doors. Here's the thing: God is protecting your purpose, He's keeping you from getting out of alignment with Him when that happened. You trying to do something, it seemed like everything you try, it don't work. That just means, look, you you probably getting ahead of God. Or you're not, you're, you're, you, or you're, you're, he's trying to keep you from getting out of alignment with him. He has something that he wants to fulfill and something he wants to do through you. But if you get out of alignment, then it won't happen. And it has to happen. God, what I don't know if you didn't, if you didn't know, God is very strategic. He's strategic in everything that he does. Hallelujah. Nothing happens by chance. Hallelujah. To God be the glory. Amen. Number five. I'm running down my last few minutes of the show, y'all. Number five, pressure. None of us likes pressure, but pressure looks like your level of responsibility seems like it's greater. Like more people are relying on you and it's uncomfortable. Look, what you really need to know is that God trusts you. Hallelujah. This is what we have, this is what you come to the reality. God trusts you, He gives you more responsibility, He's stretching you more, He's He's not He's not trying to wear you out, He trusts you more until He's able to build in you, He's able to deposit in you. Hallelujah. So I pray that these five broaden your horizon and like make I hope that something clicked. Like where you're standing back and saying, Oh, okay, that makes sense because I was trying to figure it out and I couldn't figure it out. I hope that that helped help somebody's hope. My final thoughts, or whatever you want to call it, don't look at the affliction and think you have done something wrong, but that you are simply in refinement. Some things and people have to fall away. I'm gonna say that again. Some things and people have to fall away. Amen. I hope that you can agree with that, amen. But and and so, with all of that said, next week we're gonna go take this thing a little bit deeper, a little bit further. Refinement requires us to release. And so next week we're gonna find out what exactly is that, amen. So, let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your grace and your mercy. Thank you, God, for allowing your people to be able to receive more. I pray that everyone who was able to hear this word didn't just hear it, but was able to receive it. I pray, God, you will continue to um give us a piece of surpass understanding, especially when we are in the midst of separation, when we are in the middle of uh purification. I just pray, God, that we will yield to you when it's time to let something go. That we will allow your process to be the process, God, that takes us from where we are to where you want us to go. I pray, God, that in the midst of it all, we can we are able to identify and able to see the diamond that you see. God, we love you so much. We love you, we love you, we love you, we thank you. We pray that this prayer, our prayer, is pleasing and acceptable in your sight. We pray this, we ask it. In Jesus Christ's name, we do pray. Amen, amen and amen. Y'all, I am so glad, so grateful for each and every one of you. I hope that you will come back and come to next week's show. Uh, and let me know how it's blessing you, how it's affecting you, wherever you are listening to it at. Um, want you to know it is on YouTube. I have the um the visual video. You can watch the whole thing, no music in the background, just hear me talking. But it is available on YouTube. I got a whole playlist with all of um this year's video. Um, this year, no, I just started last week with the visual um beyond the audio. But YouTube, you can go there and check it out as well as Spotify, Apple Pie, Apple. I said apple pie lord, apple music, and on and on and on, wherever you listen to podcasts. So, y'all have a great day. I hope that y'all come back and don't forget, y'all remember that you are a diamond in the rough. Amen. Come on back with me next week and y'all be blessed. Amen. Amen and amen.