The morning
Manna will be provided at 6am. Thanks. Studying
Genesis in the SSnet.org series Lesson 2, may the Holy Spirit be the speaker to
your heart. The Topic today
is: "The Crucibles leading to refinement" The Opening
Hymn will be 229 "Spirit of the Living God" The Sabbath
School Quarterly, downloadable from SSnet.org in the Teacher's Edition is on
page 22 and for the laymen edition or Standard Edition, on page 18. The SSnet.org
site allows anyone, anywhere to read the lesson in their own language. Choose
your own language to see God speaking also to your heart. ---Bitter
experiences can have a positive function. Provided you are faithful. ---Christ
suffered the same bitter experiences with his family and friends and disciples
because they needed refinement. They were uncut diamonds and needed to be cut
to be shiny. ---They were
dark unwanted iron cores that needed to be melted so that the hot iron can be
separated from the garbage that should be thrown away. ---In this
crucible is refinement for all of us in similar vein as the examples of the Old
and New Testament. ---The End is
fantastic. ---Did your
family ever go bankrupt? We did. My uncles did. It is embarassing, humble
experience. Shameful. We learned a lot of things. Our eyes opened. ---We lived
from the hand to the mouth. Scarcity. Temperance. Carefulness. We could see
others suffering too. ---Our bedrooms
were two uncemented brick structures with no ceiling and no electricity.
Candles. No water system but a drum brought in daily with fresh water. ---No bathroom
but the long-drop. ---The kitchen
was a sink-plate for the roof and wood structure attached to the two bedrooms.
Storage room was a tent. ---Our worker
that followed us got a room build with mud stacked in boxes for the walls.
Around wooden poles. Her floor was smeared with cow-dung mixed with ground and
water. ---We kept worshipping
the Lord. House worship. Sabbath-school and church attendance and
prayermeetings. Pathfinders. We studied. We prayed. ---Two years
later the Lord took us out and gave us a better house in town. We were back on
our feet. ---We have a
big family and all were helping us with giving us a truck, this place to stay,
food. God send them to us. God will do that to all who depend on Him. ---Through it
all we had our regular meals for breakfast, lunch and supper. ---Later,
looking back, we smiled at the experience. It made our family
"friendlier" to other people around us, because we were aware of
them. ---We thanked
the Lord. So can all of us.