Refinement - Sam Braden

re·fine·ment: 

The process of removing impurities or unwanted elements from a substance

Psalm 66:10- “For you have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined.”

When I think about my time so far during the Fellowship the word refinement comes to mind often. This refinement comes from many different areas throughout the Fellowship program. One of the main ways I have seen it come into play is working alongside people that live their life in a way that reflects Jesus’s words in Luke 9:23, “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Within every department we as fellows work with, the people continuously push me to die to myself and to live out the truth of the Gospel through my work.

Another way this program has refined me is through the living with 4 other guys. I personally enjoy some alone time and solitude. But being placed in close courters doesn’t always allow that but being placed in a house with these four awesome guys has allowed me to die my own selfish needs and intentionally get to love my brothers well. We get to have times of great gospel centered conversations as well as just hanging out as guys. It allows us to pour into one another, keep each other accountable, and continue to push one another to look more Christ.

I believe this program has pushed me in many ways I would have never been pushed before: mentally, physically, and spiritually. This program has hard days, easy days, short days, long days, but every day during the Fellowship is a day where you have the opportunity to love people as God calls us to do. The thing it continuously pushes me to answer is this, “How are you bringing the Lord to that “every” moment?”

-Sam