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Here’s an analogy of what God is doing with me.  

My father-in-law gave me farm machinery when we began to farm in northern Colorado. The best tractor was a 1968 Oliver 1650. A very good tractor in its day. When I began to use it, I found it was tired. It lacked the power it was rated at. I had it evaluated at the tractor shop I worked at. It would start fine, run smoothly but it lacked power and overheated easily. It worked fine if all I wanted to do was drive it around the yard or down the road.  

The answer was to rebuild it. This required taking it apart. There is a specific order in which tractors have to be disassembled. I began the process. Lots of work. The tractor was reduced to several tables of parts. The sheet metal was all taken off. The engine was completely disassembled, as well as the transmission and shuttle shift.  

While disassembling, I discovered worn piston sleeves, piston rings, bearings and valves. Lots of just tired worn-out parts. Same for the transmission.  

Everything had to be evaluated, and then the proper parts were acquired before the reassembly could begin.  

This process is what God has been doing with me. He has been going through part by part. Some parts are just dirty, some need adjusting, some need to be replaced. All this must take place before the reconstruction. Lots of hard days. Emotional days, days of great fatigue. He has been showing me repeatedly areas that need to be rebuilt like working on the tractor.  

Spiritually, emotionally and physically God is doing a deep work. It has been painful at times. Kind of frustrating like when the stuck head bolt broke taking off the head of the tractor engine.  

While this has been going on, He is continually taking me on a Biblical journey deepening my understanding of how Massive, Magnificent, All-Powerful He is. He is in absolute complete control of everything. Even with his constant attention to world situations, He cares about our smallest, simple needs. His eternal love for each of us is locked to His providence.  

Some days as He takes me through scripture, books, and sermons and they all connect with an overall awesome message that He knows me, He loves me, He has a plan for me. This life, like a wisp of smoke, is nothing in comparison to what He has in His future kingdom.