From a book called...

...Why is it taking so long to be better?, written by David Edwards.

"Once the wheat is cut and gathered, harvesters strip individual kernels from the heads of the grain, putting them in piles. But the grain isn´t yet ready for use; it must now be sifted.

The farm worker would shovel piles of grain into a sifter, a four-foot square frame with a screened bottom. Another worker would vigorously shake this wooden frame back and forth, causing the dirt and the chaff to fall through the screen onto the ground. The pure kernels of grain remain.

Sifting is quite obviously a purifying process. It separates what is useless from what is valued. The process includes turmoil, stress, and shaking. In the same way, God allows sifting situations remove the bad from the good of the believer.

What is interesting is that both God and Satan use the same process. But Satan intends events for harm and destruction, to discourage us and weaken our faith. God intends them for our benefit and help, to prove our faith as being strong and growing. God sifts us for good, to place us in a position of greater service. As we rely on his Spirit, we are carried through the tough time into a new place of purity and usefulness."

Here is a part of a text that really talked to me during the holidays.
During the last Autumn I have literally felt that my focus has been shifting, or been sifted as I could see it now.
My interests and time use have been totally messed up. And I have been aware of it the whole time, yet some how too weak to start working on it. And this is not because my life would have been so extremely busy, as it used to be. Just that now I have noticed how constantly I have been escaping this sifting period of life: filling it up with everything. And now it has taken time to find some balance.

I praise the Lord for being faithful to me and being so patient. It must be challenging sometimes :)

Hope these thougths are of some use for you too. And if you ever get a chance to read this specific book I mentioned here, please do it. And I have it, in case someone wants to read. This of course means that I need to be somehow available to you :)
Anyways: blessings for your coming week, be of good courage and in times of sifting just put your trust in God and you will survive!