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Reflections of His Grace/Grace Cafe

What is a natural pearl?

Most of us know how pearls are made.

When a foreign substance invades an oyster, the intruder slips into the mantle tissue of the mollusk, causing irritation. It is somewhat like the oyster getting a splinter. “The oyster’s natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself,” as one source states.

As a natural reaction to this, the oyster secretes a substance known as nacre to envelope the foreign invader as a part of its self-protection. The nacre is secreted over and over creating layers around the irritant to make it smoother.

Over time, the layers create a shiny pearl of various colors (white, pink, black, red, blue and green). Pearls reach their full size over an average span of three years. Thus, the reason for their worth.

What is a cultured pearl?

Cultured pearls develop much in the same way. However, while natural pearls develop without human intervention, cultured pearls are cultivated through human manipulation, depositing the irritant within the mollusk.

What is a peril?

The dictionary defines peril as something that causes an exposure to injury, loss, or destruction, grave risk, jeopardy, or danger.

Is there an irritant in your life, something that has attempted to destruct your life or invade your spirit? Has some circumstance, trial, or grief surrounded you, threatening injury or loss?

Some of our troubles emanate from our own human manipulation like the cultured pearl. We then try to cover them over by our own efforts. This usually results in the problem remaining as grit stuck in our craw rather than becoming a pearl.

However, some trials develop without our intervention. Like the irritant of the natural pearl, they just slip their way into our lives.

The Lord takes all our perils, all those irritants and trials, hurts and heartaches, losses and griefs, and covers them over with His balm. He pours out the oil of His Spirit, layer upon layer, upon our souls and spirits until we have “beauty for ashes” and “the oil of joy for mourning.” (Isa. 61:3)

I don’t think it is any coincidence that the gates into heaven are each made of one gigantic pearl. (Rev. 21:21) God has taken all the perils, trials, and tribulations from the beginning of time and molded them into the pearly gates.

We shall enter those portals of pearl, passing through and leaving behind all that has grieved us throughout our lives, leaving our tears outside the gate and entering into the fullness of joy.

Just as someone once said, “Nearly all God’s jewels are crystallized tears,” so all our perils are encapsulated pearls.

How long has it taken to make a pearl out of your irritant, your hurt, your peril? Are you still waiting for your pearls from perils? Hang on; it takes time. In God’s timing, all your troubles will be transformed into worthy pearls.

A pearl...a healed wound, born out of affliction. Are there any pearls in your life?



Today, I'm connecting with...


...hop over and read some of the other entries.

(Today, I'm doing a rerun.)

“My troubles turned out all for the best…” (Ps. 119:71 The Message Remix)

Where can the most beautiful vistas be viewed? From atop the summit of the tallest mountain, after the most strenuous climb.

Which valleys have the richest green velvet pastures and the fullest spikes of wildflower colors? Those that have withstood the greatest drenching rains.

What forests produce the most prolific new growth? Those that have suffered the hot, searing flames of destruction.

Which diamonds sparkle the most brilliantly? Those that have felt the cleaving of the jeweler’s sharp chisel and the friction of the polishing wheel.

An old Chinese proverb says, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”

Just as all of nature suffers contrary conditions in order to be expanded, improved, or strengthened, so, too, do we. Difficulties and trials will always be a part of our lives. We cannot separate ourselves from them. And if we ponder it closely, we realize we will not grow as Christians if trials do not come to test and enlarge us.

If we try to wiggle out of these times, we force premature deliverance, frustrating God’s plan. It is like prying open a cocoon before the caterpillar has finished its metamorphosis into a butterfly. Forcing open the cocoon too soon will render the caterpillar deformed for the rest of its short lifespan.

When we manipulate the hands of the clock to align with our own agenda, we destroy the beauty that God desires to emerge from His timing. Through our own efforts to “help” God out with our deliverance, do we come out of our cocoon of circumstance too early and spiritually deformed in some way? Or do we wait for the revealed transformation by God’s hand?

Is our cocoon of circumstance not intended, as for the butterfly, to deepen our richest colors and give us wings of flight, beautifying our character, all which we may not have had before the trial? While in that cocoon of circumstance, we “are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NIV)

God knows the worth, the power, and the beauty hidden deep within our hearts and only that which is contrary to our comfort releases the precious qualities within us. As Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18 NKJV)

God will work out all our circumstances for our benefit when we fully commit them and ourselves to Him, His Word, and His timing.

After experiencing a cocoon of contrary circumstance, are you able to say, as David, that all your troubles turned out for the best?

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Rom. 8:28 NLT)



Today, I'm hooking up with these great blog hops...
Finding Heaven Today


Adventures in the Ordinary


Reflections of His Grace

“And He changes the times and the seasons.”

(Dan. 2:21 NKJV)

This time of year, the heat and humidity of the summer season is, hopefully, becoming a welcomed memory and cool breezes and the beauty of the reds, golds, and oranges of fall begin to emerge. Don’t we all love it when the seasons change?

But what about our lives? Do we accept the seasons of spiritual change prompted by the circumstances in our lives? Do we see any beauty emerge from the myriad trials and afflictions that assault us? If “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1 NIV), how do we view the changes?

Where can the most beautiful vistas be viewed? From atop the summit of the tallest mountain, after the most strenuous climb.

Which valleys have the richest, green velvet pastures with the fullest spikes of wildflower colors? Those that have withstood the greatest drenching rains.

What forests produce the most prolific new growth? Those that have suffered the hot, searing flames of destruction.

Which diamonds sparkle the most brilliantly? Those that have felt the cleaving of the jeweler’s sharp chisel and the friction of the polishing wheel.

An old Chinese proverb says, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”

Just as all of nature suffers contrary conditions in order to be expanded, improved, or strengthened, so, too, do we. Difficulties and trials will always be a part of our lives. We cannot separate ourselves from them. And if we ponder it closely, we realize we will not grow as Christians if trials do not come to test and enlarge us that our greater beauty might emerge.

If we try to wiggle out of these times, we force premature deliverance, frustrating God’s plan. It is like prying open a cocoon before the caterpillar has finished its metamorphosis into a butterfly. Forcing open the cocoon too soon will render the caterpillar deformed for the rest of its short lifespan.

When we manipulate the hands of the clock to align with our own agenda, we destroy the beauty that God desires to emerge from His timing. Through our own efforts to “help” God out with our deliverance, do we come out of our cocoon of circumstance too early and spiritually deformed in some way? Or do we wait for the revealed transformation by God’s hand?

Is our cocoon of circumstance not intended, as for the butterfly, to deepen our richest colors and give us wings of flight, beautifying our character for a new season in life, all which we may not have had before the trial? While in that cocoon of circumstance, we “are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NIV)

God knows the worth, the power, and the beauty hidden deep within our hearts and only that which is contrary to our comfort releases the precious qualities within us. As Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18 NKJV)

God will work out all our circumstances for our benefit, from one spiritual season to the next, when we fully commit them and ourselves to Him, His Word, and His timing.

After experiencing a cocoon of contrary circumstance, are you able to say as David, “My troubles turned out all for the best”? (Ps. 119:71 Msg)

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Rom. 8:28 NLT)

From one season to the next…“being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV)

photo courtesy of imelda @flickr.com
God sometimes requires me to do something that appears to have obstacles and seems beyond my power to accomplish. Or it is downright scary! The situation lurks before me as a rushing river, barring me from the new territory of promise on the other side.

One of the scariest things the Lord has wanted me to do is write. As many who know me, even a little, know that writing was not my idea. Six months after I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2000, the Lord whispered to my heart to write for Him.

“Ummm…’scuse me, Lord. Write? Me? But I don’t know anything about writing.”

Silence…just the confirming impression to write. Talk about getting out of the boat and walking on the water! In obedience, yet not having the faintest clue what I was doing, I started writing a book on the topic that He led me to research.

My desk chair became my discomfort zone. Sometimes, my torture chamber. Physically and mentally.

Being an introvert and shy, I was hesitant to venture out. It is scary out there. Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my! Submitting those first dozen or so articles and devotionals for magazines and websites was excruciating…as I waited…and rejections came to my inbox.

And then there’s the road to book publication. It is fraught with all sorts of intimidating gremlins and rejections. I worked on my book for ten years and it will soon see the light of day and have that fresh aroma of real pages!

I don’t think about the scary parts any more. I just continue stepping out into unfamiliar territory. I won’t fall. The Lord is there. And even if I do fall, He’s there to pick me up, brush me off, and send me on my way again.

Writing is now my passion, my purpose, and my permanent project. My discomfort zone has mellowed, except for an occasional uncomfortable lump of rejection in my chair. I’ll continue to write until the Lord tells me to stop.

We all have our easy chairs, our deep, comfy recliners of complacency that keep us in our comfort zone. No matter what name we assign these situations, whether rejection, doing something we’ve never done before, or obeying God in some new area of life, if we do not get up out of our comfy recliners and step out in faith, these things bar us from receiving all that God has for us.

He does not part the waters of any barrier until we take that first step forward, as the priests did at the river Jordan, “As soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap.” (Josh. 3:15-16a NIV)

When we hesitate, the view of God’s promise on the other side drifts off in the distance. Sitting on the river bank in our easy chair, we cling to our old ways. Only when we dare to get up and step out into that rushing river does God make His power and resources available on our behalf.

When a rushing-river circumstance enters your life by whatever means, what do you do? Do you stick with what is safe, remaining on the river bank, pushing back in that comfy recliner? Or do you step out in faith, plunging your foot into the water?

Whether in writing or any other area of life, if you never take a chance to forge ahead in faith, the writer of Hebrews says that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Heb 11:6 NIV) And isn’t that your heart’s desire…to please God?

The Lord wants to do something new in and through you. Are you too comfortable to let Him?

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with My victorious right hand.”
(Is. 41:10 NLT)



(This post is part of a blog chain of writers from Christianwriters.com as we write on The Discomfort Zone. If you’d like to check out the other participants, the list is on the right at the top of the sidebar.)