Photos and jewelry by Hadasity
Do you ever feel like you’re going through a “smelting” process?
What is “smelting” anyway? One source states, “smelting refers to burning off the impurities that gold might be mixed with, resulting in nearly pure gold.” (1) Another explains that it is “accomplished by using high pressure, heat and various chemicals to break down the ore and melt the gold to separate it from the impurities.” (2)
There are many times in motherhood when I feel like I am being put through the smelting process. As if I’m experiencing intense “pressure and heat” from all that’s going on around and within me. The pressures of motherhood are real. I feel the pressure to have perfectly behaved kids, healthy homemade meals, a clean “Pinterest” apartment, and kids attending the best school, not to mention a solid marriage.
I can vividly recall moments of public meltdowns, scrubbing nail polish off our wood floor, the countless coats of touch up paint over Grace’s Sharpie “art,” getting peed on at a fancy birthday party, the sleepless nights with a newborn and then dealing with a “terrific” two year old who no longer napped. Oh, so many of those heated moments and what feels like “high pressure” still happen today.
Let me tell you during some of these moments I yell and then I cry. I sometimes feel like I’m a keyboard waiting to have my buttons pushed. And there are moments when I cry because I feel like a complete failure as a mom. If I have to break up another fight, I might just lose it. Have you been there too?
Looking back on these moments makes me realize that they have refined me. I’m becoming the woman God created me to be and not a made-up “perfect” mom. Through the heat and pressure, God is separating the impurities from my heart so that it can become its purest form, gold.
God is working to separate the impurities from the gold within my heart.
Motherhood is the hardest thing I’ve ever done (and probably will ever do) but I know God is using it to smelt me. He’s slowly burning off my selfishness, pride, greed, and impatience. He tests my heart in these areas but I’m making progress with the help of the Holy Spirit. I’m learning to rely on Him and parent not by my own strength but His.
We can look at the challenges of motherhood or other difficult circumstances as pain and failure, or we can view them as our purification. Which will it be? How is God using motherhood or other challenges in your smelting process?
Sending my love,
Gayle
“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
Job 23:10 NIV
“The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.”
Proverbs 17:3 NIV
More about Hadasity
Hadasity’s heartbeat is to lift up women and children in impoverished nations by being a forerunner in seeing art, fashion and craftsmanship come together to bless and channel funds towards those on the front lines, fighting injustice and rescuing women and children.
Through their Jewelry and other products they design and co-create, they hope to help you give your loved ones gifts with messages of encouragement, hope, and express your heart and joy for the people that mean something to you.
