Refined Through the Fire: The Glassblower & Me

As I was going through one of the hardest seasons of my restoration journey, I kept feeling something I couldn’t quite put into words. I wasn’t sad… but I wasn’t fully healed.

I wasn’t broken… but I wasn’t fully whole either.

I was “in the middle.”

And one day, while talking to my mom, and an image flashed in my mind so clearly I could feel it. Almost like God was showing me a scene instead of speaking in words.

A glowing sphere of glass on the end of a long metal rod… held inside a blazing fire… turning, softening, & reshaping.

It was the art of glassblowing.

I saw the glass—fragile yet fierce—being held deep in the flames. The rod turned slowly and deliberately. With each rotation the shape shifted. Colors blended. What looked chaotic became intentional.

And suddenly, I realized:

The glass was me.

And God was the One holding the rod. The Artist

The fire represented everything I thought was destroying me; my mistakes, fears, disappointments, the stretching in my marriage, & all the emotional pressure that i put on myself.

But the glass didn’t melt away. It didn’t fall into the fire. It didn’t crack.

Because the steady rod held the glass in place, just like God was holding me — secure, supported, and protected even in the heat.

The Meaning Behind the Glass & Fire

In glassblowing, the fire must be hot enough to soften the glass, but not destroy it. The artist turns the rod continuously because stillness would make the glass collapse. He also leans in & blows air into it, expanding it from the inside out. He reshapes it with tools dipped in water so nothing sticks. He reheats it again and again because refinement requires repeated exposure—not to burn, but to build.

And the colors? They only fuse and become beautiful under intense heat.

Tell me that isn’t God.

Tell me that isn’t exactly what He does in our refining seasons.

He keeps us in the fire just long enough to soften what has grown rigid. He turns us gently so we don’t fall apart. He breathes His Spirit into hollow places. He shapes us with a tenderness we don’t always notice until later. He uses every swirl of chaos, mistake, pain, and setback to create something beautiful.

And then it hit me:

The image in my mind wasn’t imagination. It was revelation.

God was telling me:

“I am refining you. I am shaping you. I am holding you.”

The fire wasn’t punishment. It was purpose. It was preparation. It was transformation.

What Scripture Says About The Fire

In the Bible, fire is almost never about destruction without intention.

Fire symbolizes:

Purification — “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” (Malachi 3:3)

God’s presence — The burning bush that did not consume.

Restoration — Trials produce perseverance, character, and hope. (Romans 5:3–4)

Guidance — God led Israel with a pillar of fire.

Faith-building — Your faith, refined by fire… (1 Peter 1:7)

Fire in God’s hands is purposeful. It never destroys what He intends to use. It transforms it.

So yes, the heat was real. So was the stretching. So was the pressure.

But the Artist never left. The Rod never slipped.

And God never stopped turning me with intention.

Identity Formed in the Fire

As I now walk through this refining season, something unexpected happened:

I began to understand how special I truly am—not in a prideful or superior way, but in a deeply holy way.

It hit me:

The Master Artist Himself was shaping me. Breathing into me. Holding me. Carrying me through the fire.

For the first time, I felt a level of self-worth that couldn’t be touched by opinions, circumstances, or past wounds.

No one could define me or redefine me.

God was already doing that Himself.

I didn’t feel “better than” anyone else.

Just different — in the same way every handcrafted piece of art is different.

Unique because of the One who made me.

Priceless because of the hands that shaped me.

The honor of being crafted, touched, reshaped, and refined by the hands of the Most High… that changed me forever.

I couldn’t help it.

I started dressing with intention, speaking with more grace, moving with more confidence.

Because when you truly understand:

“You are his God’s daughter…”

you carry yourself differently.

You try to represent Heaven everywhere you go. You try to bring His character into every room you enter. You try to reflect His nature through:

how you carry yourself, how you respond, how you dress, how you love, how you show up.

This, to me, is what it means to be a refined woman of God.

Not perfect. Not polished overnight. But shaped. Held. Turned with purpose. Made new through the fire.

A Final Word For the Woman in Her Refining Season

If you are in a season that feels hot, heavy, confusing, or stretching…

Do not fear the fire.

God is using it. God is in it. God is holding you through it.

You are not being destroyed. You are being designed.

You are not being broken. You are being beautifully reshaped.

And when this season is over, you won’t just come out restored…

You’ll come out refined.