Refinement and Reflections Several years ago when I went through the fires of refinement and faced a serious and potentially fatal health challenge, I asked myself, as well as God, many questions. How did I find myself in this furnace of affliction? God, am I being sifted? God, am I being disciplined? Am I being punished? Are you going to let me be destroyed? My husband and I were out walking by a large pond in our neighborhood. We live in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and our ponds are full of alligators. We have blue herons, snowy egrets, cormorants, ospreys, red-tailed hawks, ibis, and wood storks, all of which make our walks so incredibly delightful. That day, the gators were out in full force. There must have been five or six that we saw on our short walk. For the first time ever we heard an alligator growl. Our neighbors who were walking several steps ahead stopped and shouted back, "Hey, did you hear that?" "Yes," I...