The Anvil

"We are always on the forge, or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things." -Henry Ward Beecher


I logged on to twitter to find that quote sitting on my home page. I then preceded to look up the definition for anvil.


Anvil (noun): a heavy iron block with a smooth face, frequently of steel, on which metals, usually heated until soft, are hammered into desired shapes.


I don't know if you know a lot about me or none at all. But for starters, I am the assistant editor of my high school newspaper this year. And this past week was my first week back at school. Our newspaper is having mounds of problems. I feel like it is holding on by a string. It has been the source of many, many frustrations this week. The things I'm dealing with in there are problems I didn't even know could exist. I feel like everything that could go wrong, has. I don't even know if our first issue is even going to come out.


Our newspaper is called The Anvil. I don't know about you, but I'm taking this quote very literally at the moment.


This morning my Sunday school teacher told me that maybe all this is happening for some reason and to trust in God's plan. I've been wanting to believe that this week. I so badly wanted that to be my attitude and my response. But it hasn't.


I don't think God could have spoken to me any more clearer. Anvils shape things. God is trying to shape me right now, but lately I've been stubborn. I love the end of that quote. God is shaping us for higher things. I'm a huge sucker for metaphors so I'm kind of bouncing off the walls at this moment. If this is cheesy to you, I'm sorry, but it's freaking me out. I'm blown away by God. He has crafted my life and the things I participate in down to perfection. I love the hope God offers us in trials and how He tells us to rejoice in them.


"Not only so, be we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5


"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6-7


I've been feeling hurt a lot this week because of many things. I've felt abandoned. I've spent most of this week questioning God asking what exactly ARE you doing? I was listening to the radio one day and the song Before the Morning by Josh Wilson came on and I fell in love with it. The lyrics describe perfectly what God has been saying to me all week. Here is the chorus:


Would you dare, would you dare to believe

that you still have a reason to sing

cause the pain that you've been feeling

can't compare to the joy that's commin



so hold on, you got to wait for the light

just press on, and fight the good fight

because the pain that you've been feeling

is just the dark before the morning.



It's a pretty sweet song, and it was just what I needed to hear. I needed to quit throwing myself a pity party and trust God and His plan. I needed to snap out of my selfish thinking and look around. I needed to trust and hope in God again. Sometimes I wonder why God even continues to take me back. Why He even stands there with His arms open wide telling me He doesn't care where I've been or what I've done. But I'm so thankful for my God and the hope He so graciously gave me so that even in trials I have a reason to rejoice.