The Furnace of Affliction

Pain and suffering are not the most popular topics in Christian faith. Yet, Jesus Christ warned his followers that it's part of the deal following Him. We may be persecuted because of of our faith. We will face difficulties, physical or mental pain and suffering, may not be among the rich and famous while living our lives here on Earth. Cheap answers like God is working out everything, He has a plan although we don't see it (yet), and Her carries us each day may feel as useless as the dream of escaping all problems in a kind of collective denial of the broken world around us.

Horace Williams Jr. shares his personal lessons and decades of Bible studies on the topic in The Furnace of Affliction : How God Uses Our Pain and Suffering for His Purpose that God wants us to bless with conviction, correction, encouragement, instruction, comfort, and joy. Pain and suffering are means to get purified, restored, refined, and prepared for good works God intended us to pick up, and everlasting life with Him. Williams uses stories of biblical characters like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jesus Christ, Peter, and Paul to explain how God's purpose surpasses our understanding of everyday adverse circumstances. God sometimes uses pain to help us develop an intimate relationship with Him. He also uses it to divulge sin in our lives, develop our faith, and demolish our pride, determine our path, demonstrate His grace, display His love, deepen our commitment to Him, and deliver hope, comfort, and joy.

Experiencing Christ involves suffering. Refining fire questions at the end of each chapter invoke introspection or a conversation if you use this book in your Bible study or small group in church. Although there have been more in-depth books written about suffering, William's contribution offers a concise, readable testimony substantiated with Scripture to support you as Christian.

THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION was sent to me by Net Galley, free of charge, in exchange for my honest review.
THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION is a nonfiction self-help book written by the talented writer, Horace Williams Jr. it was published by Black Lillie Press.
I love that Horace Williams Jr. wrote this book after having a stroke, and said that he learned so much from the affliction and recovery from it.
He started by quoting CS LEWIS – “We can ignore even pleasure. But, pain INSISTS (my emphasis) upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.” This quote really made me think! Isn’t it so true that we often ignore the fact that our pleasure comes from God…Instead, when we experience pain, we fall to our knees, begging God to take it away.
Mr. Williams went through eight reasons that God uses the “furnace of affliction:
Sin
To develop our faith
To demolish our pride
To determine our paths
To demonstrate His grace
To display His love
To deepen our commitment to Him
To deliver hope, comfort, and joy
After each section he includes REFINING FIRE QUESTIONS, a verse to ponder, and a quote. He has the quotes in his resource library free to print, with the purchase of this book. I pulled a couple favorite quotes from his words…GOD IS ALWAYS REFINING. He’ll never be finished until He’s ready to bring us Home…I STRUGGLED WITH DOUBT-BUT GOD. I just love that God answers our every doubt! And, UNLEASH THE POWER OF PRAYER. WOW! Our prayers can bring about miraculous outcomes for our pain because God is so loving and merciful!!
Oh YES!! I definitely recommend this book!!

Affliction. Something the Bible tells us will come to us in life, but do we really understand. Through stories of his own personal afflictions, from having a stroke at a young age, to a wedding engagement that ended up not coming to pass, Mr. Williams shows us how we are to depend on God, not only on a daily basis, but also during troubling times. The book includes Practical advice as well as Biblical truths. A great read that I will refer to often.

I received a copy of this book Via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

A well written book on how suffering and pain can help us to make right decisions in life. A wealth of information throughout this book.