WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.799 Welcome back to Pomoja Podcast, a ministry of 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:09.179 Life of Christ International Ministries. Pomoja 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:12.519 means together, and that's exactly what this 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.859 space is about. The place where stronger lives 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:19.719 are built, faith is strengthened, hearts are 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:23.820 encouraged, and Christ -centered homes are shaped 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:27.940 through ordinary conversations. that become extraordinary 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:31.480 encounters with God's truth. One conversation, 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:36.840 one story, one revelation at a time. Thank you 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.219 for joining me for another powerful conversation. 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:44.960 In our last conversation, we walked together 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:47.759 through the lives of some of the greatest marriages 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.259 recorded in scripture. We looked at Adam and 00:00:51.259 --> 00:00:55.320 Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:59.560 and Rachel, Elkanah and Hannah, Hosea and Gomer, 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:03.859 and finally Joseph and Mary. Their stories were 00:01:03.859 --> 00:01:07.420 all different. They lived in different generations. 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.579 They faced different struggles. They carried 00:01:10.579 --> 00:01:13.700 different assignments from God. Yet they all 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:17.700 had one thing in common. Every one of those marriages 00:01:17.700 --> 00:01:21.620 passed through the fire. And somehow, every one 00:01:21.620 --> 00:01:25.469 of those homes became warm. By the end of our 00:01:25.469 --> 00:01:28.810 conversation, we arrived at a simple but profound 00:01:28.810 --> 00:01:32.790 conclusion. Warmth is not the absence of fire. 00:01:33.430 --> 00:01:36.969 Warmth is the testimony of a fire that has been 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:40.930 surrendered to God. But that conclusion leaves 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:44.329 us with another question. In fact, I believe 00:01:44.329 --> 00:01:46.870 it may be the most important question of this 00:01:46.870 --> 00:01:51.349 entire series. Why? Why would a loving father 00:01:51.349 --> 00:01:55.239 allow the fire in the first place? If God is 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:59.540 all -powerful, couldn't He prevent every misunderstanding? 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:04.159 Couldn't He remove every disappointment? Couldn't 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.780 He spare us the financial pressures, the waiting 00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:12.419 seasons, the painful conversations, and the difficult 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:15.979 moments that every marriage eventually faces? 00:02:16.699 --> 00:02:21.180 Of course He could. So why doesn't He, if marriage 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:24.770 was His idea? Why did he design it in such a 00:02:24.770 --> 00:02:27.650 way that every couple must eventually walk through 00:02:27.650 --> 00:02:31.229 the fire? That question stayed with me for a 00:02:31.229 --> 00:02:35.409 long time. And over the years, I believe the 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:38.050 Lord has slowly been teaching me something that 00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:40.949 completely changed the way I understand not only 00:02:40.949 --> 00:02:45.330 marriage, but his work in our lives. I came to 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:50.860 realize that God never wastes the fire. One of 00:02:50.860 --> 00:02:54.039 the greatest misconceptions many of us have is 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:57.300 believing that God's highest priority is to make 00:02:57.300 --> 00:03:01.400 our lives comfortable. It isn't. God certainly 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:05.139 cares about us. He delights in blessing his children, 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:08.680 but comfort has never been his highest goal. 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.080 Transformation is. When you begin reading scripture 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:16.159 with that understanding, something remarkable 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:20.189 happens. You start seeing the same pattern over 00:03:20.189 --> 00:03:24.370 and over again. When God called Abraham, his 00:03:24.370 --> 00:03:27.490 ultimate purpose wasn't simply to give him a 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:32.129 son. God was forming the father of faith. When 00:03:32.129 --> 00:03:35.590 he called Moses, he wasn't only delivering Israel 00:03:35.590 --> 00:03:39.289 from Egypt. He was transforming a shepherd into 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:42.629 a leader who would carry the presence of God. 00:03:43.610 --> 00:03:46.990 When he chose David, He wasn't merely preparing 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:50.930 a king for Israel, he was shaping a man after 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:55.629 his own heart. Throughout the Bible, God consistently 00:03:55.629 --> 00:03:59.409 shows that he is more concerned with who we are 00:03:59.409 --> 00:04:02.879 becoming. than with what we are receiving. The 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:06.419 same principle applies to marriage. Marriage 00:04:06.419 --> 00:04:09.939 was never designed simply to make us happy. It 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:13.759 was designed to make us holy. It is one of God's 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.800 greatest instruments for shaping our character, 00:04:17.180 --> 00:04:20.699 maturing our hearts, and teaching us to love 00:04:20.699 --> 00:04:24.730 as Christ loves His Church. Perhaps that is why 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:28.009 the fire becomes necessary. There are some things 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:31.490 God simply cannot produce through comfort alone. 00:04:32.069 --> 00:04:35.790 Patience, humility, self -control, forgiveness, 00:04:36.550 --> 00:04:40.610 faithfulness, kindness, long -suffering, grace. 00:04:41.550 --> 00:04:43.709 Those qualities are not developed when everything 00:04:43.709 --> 00:04:46.589 is easy. They are formed when we choose to surrender 00:04:46.589 --> 00:04:50.009 ourselves to God in the middle of difficult seasons. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:56.379 Think about Jesus himself. The writer of Hebrews 00:04:56.379 --> 00:05:00.279 tells us that although he was a son, he learned 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.560 obedience through what he suffered. Pause and 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:06.439 think about that for a moment. If the perfect 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.879 son of God entered the school of suffering, why 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:13.439 would we expect his followers to graduate without 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:17.199 ever entering the classroom? The fire is not 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.399 God's way of punishing his children. It is his 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:24.300 way of preparing them. The fire is not evidence 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:29.620 that God has abandoned us. Very often it is evidence 00:05:29.620 --> 00:05:34.120 that he is actively working within us. And perhaps 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:37.139 that is why my father never described the flames 00:05:37.139 --> 00:05:40.300 in his story. He never talked about the smoke. 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:43.120 He never talked about the struggle of keeping 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:46.819 the fire alive. He simply said the house was 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:49.899 warm. Because once the fire has accomplished 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:53.079 its purpose, What remains is no longer pain. 00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:57.839 What remains is warmth, peace, security, maturity, 00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:02.779 rest. A home where two people have learned not 00:06:02.779 --> 00:06:06.199 merely to live together, but to grow together. 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:11.560 But this raises another important question. If 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:15.220 God uses fire to transform us, does that mean 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:19.019 every fire comes from Him? Or is there a difference 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:23.019 between the fires the enemy ignites and the fires 00:06:23.019 --> 00:06:27.680 God allows? That distinction is essential because 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.600 the Bible never treats every trial the same way. 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:34.819 Learning to recognize the difference will change 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:39.199 the way you understand suffering, conflict, and 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.379 even the difficult seasons in your own marriage. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:47.759 And that's exactly where we're going next. There 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.519 is something I've come to appreciate about God. 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:53.839 Long before he ever spoke about marriage, he 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:56.699 had already established one of his greatest principles 00:06:56.699 --> 00:06:59.959 in creation itself. If you pay attention to the 00:06:59.959 --> 00:07:03.079 world around you, you'll begin to notice it everywhere. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.639 Everything that carries great value passes through 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:10.220 fire. That isn't just true spiritually, it's 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:14.000 true throughout creation. Think about gold. Gold 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.699 doesn't become valuable because of the fire. 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:20.660 It was already valuable. The fire simply removes 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:24.240 everything that doesn't belong. Every impurity 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.660 rises to the surface until only the pure gold 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:31.379 remains. The greater the purity, the clearer 00:07:31.379 --> 00:07:35.160 the reflection. The fire doesn't create the gold, 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:40.319 it reveals it. The same is true of clay. A potter 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:43.180 may carefully shape a beautiful vessel with his 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:46.220 own hands, but before it enters the furnace, 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:50.470 It remains fragile. It can easily collapse. It 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:53.970 can easily be broken. It cannot yet fulfill the 00:07:53.970 --> 00:07:56.949 purpose for which it was created. Only after 00:07:56.949 --> 00:07:59.589 passing through the fire does it become strong 00:07:59.589 --> 00:08:02.649 enough to carry what the potter intended it to 00:08:02.649 --> 00:08:06.009 carry. Even bread follows the same pattern. Before 00:08:06.009 --> 00:08:08.750 it enters the oven, everything is already there. 00:08:08.930 --> 00:08:12.269 The flour, the water, the yeast, the oil, every 00:08:12.269 --> 00:08:15.449 ingredient is present. But no one can be nourished 00:08:15.449 --> 00:08:18.129 until the dough passes through the heat. The 00:08:18.129 --> 00:08:20.730 oven doesn't ruin the bread, it completes it. 00:08:20.870 --> 00:08:24.029 And then there is steel. Steel is heated, folded, 00:08:24.470 --> 00:08:27.810 hammered, and refined over and over again. Not 00:08:27.810 --> 00:08:30.750 because the blacksmith despises the metal, but 00:08:30.750 --> 00:08:33.809 because he sees something the raw steel cannot 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:38.070 yet become on its own. He sees a bridge, a foundation, 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:41.710 a tool, something strong enough to carry tremendous 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:45.549 weight. The strength was always possible. The 00:08:45.549 --> 00:08:49.370 fire made it visible. Now let me ask you a question. 00:08:49.669 --> 00:08:52.830 If God has woven this principle into everything 00:08:52.830 --> 00:08:56.309 He created, why would marriage be any different? 00:08:56.570 --> 00:08:59.610 Why would we expect the most sacred covenant 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:03.710 between two people to become strong without passing 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:07.070 through the very process that strengthens everything 00:09:07.070 --> 00:09:10.149 else God has made? I think that's where many 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:13.519 of our disappointments begin. We expect commitment 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:17.620 without being tested, unity without sacrifice, 00:09:18.220 --> 00:09:21.980 intimacy without vulnerability, patience without 00:09:21.980 --> 00:09:26.139 waiting, strength without resistance. Yet throughout 00:09:26.139 --> 00:09:29.860 the Bible, God has never worked that way. When 00:09:29.860 --> 00:09:32.659 I began reading the scripture with that perspective, 00:09:33.179 --> 00:09:36.559 I realized this pattern was there all along. 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:41.059 Abraham's faith passed through the fire of waiting. 00:09:41.810 --> 00:09:44.490 Joseph's character passed through the fire of 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:48.389 betrayal. Moses' leadership passed through the 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:51.629 fire of the wilderness. David's calling passed 00:09:51.629 --> 00:09:54.789 through the fire of rejection. Peter's courage 00:09:54.789 --> 00:09:58.049 passed through the fire of failure. Even our 00:09:58.049 --> 00:10:00.889 Lord Jesus Christ entered the fire of suffering 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:03.750 before the glory of the resurrection. That is 00:10:03.750 --> 00:10:07.549 not a coincidence. It is God's pattern. He is 00:10:07.549 --> 00:10:10.590 not only interested in where He is taking us, 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:14.299 He is deeply interested in who we become on the 00:10:14.299 --> 00:10:17.840 journey. And perhaps that's why my father's story 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:21.659 never focused on the flames. He never described 00:10:21.659 --> 00:10:24.879 how difficult it was to keep the fire burning. 00:10:25.220 --> 00:10:28.460 He never spoke about the smoke or the exhaustion. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:33.720 He simply said, the house was warm. Now I understand 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.889 why. The warmth was never accidental. It was 00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:41.470 the evidence that someone had endured the process. 00:10:42.029 --> 00:10:45.029 Someone had refused to walk away when things 00:10:45.029 --> 00:10:48.610 became difficult. Someone had chosen covenant 00:10:48.610 --> 00:10:52.370 over convenience. The warmth wasn't the miracle. 00:10:52.950 --> 00:10:56.529 The transformed husband was. The transformed 00:10:56.529 --> 00:11:00.690 wife was. The transformed marriage was. That 00:11:00.690 --> 00:11:04.210 was the miracle. But before we go any further, 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.840 There is another truth we must understand. Not 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:11.320 every fire serves the same purpose. Some fires 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:15.860 consume, others purify. Some are ignited by the 00:11:15.860 --> 00:11:20.600 enemy, others are allowed by God. From the outside 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.240 they can look remarkably similar, but their purpose 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.440 could not be more different. And learning to 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.120 discern the difference may completely change 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:32.960 the way you understand every trial that enters 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:38.080 your home. There is something else we must understand. 00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:42.000 Not every fire has the same source. Not every 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:45.840 trial has the same purpose. And not every difficult 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.919 season should be interpreted the same way. From 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:53.200 the outside, two fires may look identical. Both 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:57.100 produce heat. Both bring pressure. Both can leave 00:11:57.100 --> 00:12:00.779 us exhausted. Both can bring us to our knees. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.090 Yet one fire is designed to destroy. The other 00:12:05.090 --> 00:12:09.230 is designed to transform. If we fail to recognize 00:12:09.230 --> 00:12:12.590 the difference, we may spend our lives resisting 00:12:12.590 --> 00:12:15.809 the very work God is trying to accomplish, or 00:12:15.809 --> 00:12:18.909 worse, embracing the very thing the enemy is 00:12:18.909 --> 00:12:22.129 using to destroy us. That is why discernment 00:12:22.129 --> 00:12:28.250 matters. Jesus leaves no confusion about the 00:12:28.250 --> 00:12:31.850 enemy's purpose. In John chapter 10, he says, 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:36.100 The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to 00:12:36.100 --> 00:12:41.080 destroy. Notice those three words, steal, kill, 00:12:41.659 --> 00:12:45.159 destroy. There is nothing redemptive about Satan's 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:48.259 intentions. He never sends a trial to make you 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:51.559 more like Christ. He never attacks your marriage 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:55.019 to strengthen it. His purpose is always destruction. 00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:59.649 He looks for cracks in the foundation. A conversation 00:12:59.649 --> 00:13:04.149 that ends unresolved. A disappointment that is 00:13:04.149 --> 00:13:08.149 never processed. An offense that quietly becomes 00:13:08.149 --> 00:13:11.549 bitterness. A prayer that slowly disappears. 00:13:11.909 --> 00:13:14.970 He rarely begins with dramatic destruction. He 00:13:14.970 --> 00:13:18.230 begins with small compromises, small wounds, 00:13:18.730 --> 00:13:22.610 small lies, small distances. Then he patiently 00:13:22.610 --> 00:13:25.990 waits for them to grow. That is how he works. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:29.580 His fire feeds pride instead of humility. It 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:32.799 feeds resentment instead of forgiveness. It feeds 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:36.500 suspicion instead of trust. It feeds isolation 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:40.299 instead of unity. His goal is always the same, 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:44.759 to separate what God has joined together. God's 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:48.200 fire is completely different. When God allows 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:51.580 fire, He is never trying to destroy His children. 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:55.340 He is revealing, refining, and restoring them. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:59.220 Peter writes that our faith is more precious 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:03.460 than gold which perishes though refined by fire. 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:08.240 James tells us to consider it pure joy whenever 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.299 you face trials of many kinds because the testing 00:14:11.299 --> 00:14:15.240 of your faith produces perseverance. Notice the 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:18.720 language. Peter doesn't say the fire destroys 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:22.720 faith. He says it proves it. James doesn't say 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.779 the trial weakens faith. He says it develops 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:29.419 endurance. God's fire always produces something 00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:33.980 the enemy's fire never can. Greater faith. Deeper 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:37.620 humility. Stronger character. A heart that trusts 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:41.799 Him more than before. Then Malachi gives us one 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:44.519 of the most beautiful pictures in all of scripture. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:49.720 He describes God as a refiner of silver. A refiner 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:53.200 doesn't light the fire and walk away. He sits 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.860 beside it. He watches it carefully. He controls 00:14:56.860 --> 00:15:00.039 the temperature. He knows exactly how much heat 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.879 the silver can endure. And he removes it at precisely 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:07.139 the right moment. Our Heavenly Father does the 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:10.549 same. He never abandons his children in the fire. 00:15:10.649 --> 00:15:14.269 He watches, he guides, he strengthens, he comforts, 00:15:14.350 --> 00:15:18.190 he refines. The enemy's fire is reckless. God's 00:15:18.190 --> 00:15:21.509 fire is purposeful. The enemy burns to erase 00:15:21.509 --> 00:15:25.230 the image of God. God burns until the image of 00:15:25.230 --> 00:15:29.409 Christ begins to appear. The same heat, completely 00:15:29.409 --> 00:15:34.769 different purpose. When I look back over my own 00:15:34.769 --> 00:15:38.220 marriage, I realized there were seasons I asked 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:42.480 God to extinguish the fire. Now I thank Him for 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:45.320 what He accomplished through it. Not because 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:48.840 the pain was enjoyable, but because the God who 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:52.080 met us in the fire refused to let the fire have 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:56.460 the final word. That is the difference. The enemy 00:15:56.460 --> 00:16:00.620 hopes the fire will end your story. God uses 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:04.600 the fire to write a better chapter. Once I understood 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:08.620 that, Another truth became impossible to ignore. 00:16:09.059 --> 00:16:12.240 God wasn't using marriage primarily to change 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:16.799 my circumstances. He was using marriage to change 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:21.059 me. And perhaps that is one of the greatest purposes 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:25.000 of covenant. Not simply to find the right person, 00:16:25.299 --> 00:16:28.639 but to become the person God is calling you to 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:33.480 be. As we come to the end of today's conversation, 00:16:33.799 --> 00:16:36.899 I hope you're beginning to see the fire differently. 00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:40.759 Perhaps you've spent years asking God to remove 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:44.879 the fire. Maybe today he's inviting you to understand 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.879 it instead. We've discovered that God never wastes 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.440 the fire. We've seen that throughout creation, 00:16:53.019 --> 00:16:56.200 everything of great value passes through a process 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:01.700 of refinement. Gold, clay, bread, steel. They 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:05.039 all remind us that God often uses pressure to 00:17:05.039 --> 00:17:08.579 prepare what he intends to use. And finally, 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:12.079 we've learned something every believer must understand. 00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:16.099 Not every fire comes from the same source. The 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:20.519 enemy burns to destroy. God refines to transform. 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:24.880 One seeks to separate. The other seeks to sanctify. 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:28.460 The same heat, completely different purpose. 00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:32.140 So if you find yourself walking through a difficult 00:17:32.140 --> 00:17:35.839 season today, don't ask only, Lord, when will 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:40.440 this end? Ask another question as well. Lord, 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:43.440 what are you producing in me that could never 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:47.900 be produced any other way? You may discover that 00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:51.440 the fire you wanted God to extinguish is becoming 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.319 the very place where He is shaping your faith, 00:17:54.839 --> 00:17:58.240 your character, and your marriage. Remember, 00:17:58.539 --> 00:18:03.799 God never wastes the fire. But our journey through 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:06.799 the house in the middle of the forest is not 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:10.460 over. In our next conversation, we're going to 00:18:10.460 --> 00:18:14.220 make this deeply personal. We'll move beyond 00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:17.640 understanding the fire and begin looking at what 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:22.339 the fire actually reveals inside us. We'll discover 00:18:22.339 --> 00:18:25.759 that marriage is far more than two people learning 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.829 to live together. It is one of God's greatest 00:18:29.829 --> 00:18:33.769 classrooms, a place where pride is confronted, 00:18:34.390 --> 00:18:37.849 where forgiveness is learned, where character 00:18:37.849 --> 00:18:42.789 is refined, and where two imperfect people are 00:18:42.789 --> 00:18:46.089 gradually transformed into the image of Christ. 00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:50.410 We'll also confront one of the greatest misconceptions 00:18:50.410 --> 00:18:54.349 many couples carry, that every difficult season 00:18:54.349 --> 00:18:58.019 means their marriage is failing. What if the 00:18:58.019 --> 00:19:02.299 opposite is true? What if the pressure is evidence 00:19:02.299 --> 00:19:06.039 that God is still working? And what if the greatest 00:19:06.039 --> 00:19:09.420 miracle isn't that your marriage avoids the fire, 00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:13.359 but that you don't come out of it the same person 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:17.299 who went in? We'll answer those questions next 00:19:17.299 --> 00:19:22.319 time. Until then, remember this, the warmth in 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.859 the house is never the absence of fire. It is 00:19:25.859 --> 00:19:28.240 the testimony of a fire that has been surrendered 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.640 to God. God bless you, and I'll see you in our 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:33.799 next conversation.