I am a man without a furnace. My windows are insulated by 19 sheets of glass which cost less than installing a heating system.
Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought; so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on his anvil into what frame he pleases.
Are you facing a superheated furnace? What God wants is for you to look full in the face of Jesus. Get your focus off whatever it is that appears to be unanswered and focus on the Son.
I don't recommend this, but my dad - to help us get through the winter, he bought a kerosene heater, and he had it in the kitchen so that the furnace wouldn't have to kick off.
I went to boarding school from the age of eight - first to prep school, then to Eton. One thing that kind of education teaches you is community living: there's little retreat. That's why people come out of it and talk about lifelong friendships forged in the furnace.
I wrote in the cellar for a number of years. I needed a private space, and it had a furnace, so it was always warm.
My parents were brutal to each other, so I slept in the basement by an old coal-fired furnace. I became a street kid. Occasionally, I'd live with aunts or uncles, then I'd run away to live in the woods, trapping and hunting game to survive. The wilderness pulled at me; still does.
For gold is tried in the fire and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.
The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.
Poetry is how I feed the soul, and it's how I fire the furnace of writing.
