You think of an orange—the piece of fruit. Nothing rhymes with its name; it’s uniquely its own. And just like God does with us when He prunes us, it’s just like what we do when we want to get to the center of the orange. The orange must be peeled back in layers, just as we have to shed one layer at a time.

You never think about how painful the pulling apart is until you’re in it. You never think about the grit and grime that gets under your nails when you peel that orange, or whether your nails were clean before you started peeling. You just think about the satisfaction of getting to the center—the restorative feeling of being healed once you’ve been completely peeled back.

Once the orange is peeled, it’s still covered in residue. The orange isn’t perfect yet—but we eat it anyway. There are pieces that get stuck in our teeth, but the refreshing, thirst-quenching feeling is worth the grit in between.

That’s God’s word to us—how the orange refreshes and quenches us is how God’s word quenches us. Even with the residue, we’re still shedding. Just like we eat that orange anyway—God will use His word to restore us anyway. To restore the layers of us that aren’t perfect.

A powerful speaker, Tasha Keys, once said, “I am not healed, but I’m healing.”

I, Tiara happen to be healing in real time. Out loud.

I bet you don’t even feel thirsty anymore. Because just like the orange, this metaphor quenched you. And just like that orange, you’re still being peeled back, one layer at a time.