A Christian blacksmith who had a great deal of affliction was challenged by an unbeliever to
account for it.

His explanation was this:"I don’t know that I can account for these things to your satisfaction,
but I think I can to my own. I am a blacksmith. I often take a piece of iron and put it into the fire
and bring it to a white heat. Then I put it on the anvil and strike it once or twice to see whether
it will take temper. If I think it will, I plunge it into the water and suddenly change the
temperature. Then I put it into the fire again, and again I put it into the water. This I repeat
several times. Then I put it on the anvil and hammer it, and bend it, and rasp and file it, and make
some useful article which will do service for twenty-five years. If, however, when I first strike
it on the anvil, I think it will not take temper, I throw it into the scrap heap and sell it at a half
cent a pound.

"I believe my God and Father has been testing me to see whether I will take temper. He has put
me into the fire and into the water. I have tried to bear it as patiently as I could, and my daily
prayer has been, ‘Lord, put me into the fire if Thou wilt; put me into the water if Thou thinkest
I need it; do anything that pleases Thee, O Lord; only don’t throw me into the scrap heap!’"