Friday Prayer: Trusting the Chisel

Father, I don't like the chisel - the trials that strike, the disappointments that chip away my securities, the losses that remove what I was holding onto. I want to be made whole by addition, not subtraction. I want you to add blessings, not remove comforts.

But you're the Artist and I'm the marble. You see what I'm becoming; I only see what's being taken away. You know which blows are necessary; I only know they hurt. You're conforming me to Christ's image by removing everything that doesn't look like him, and I keep fighting the process.

Give me trust for the chisel. Help me submit to your shaping, even when it's painful. When you remove something I'm clutching, help me open my hands instead of tightening my grip. You're not destroying me; you're revealing me. You're not taking away who I am; you're removing what I'm not. I trust the Artist. Keep chiseling.