Here is a draft of a devo I started to prepare for a Young Women's Prayer Breakfast...
Pearls by Pam Helm
Gemstones - They are valuable, rare and one of earth's most beautiful treasures but have you ever thought about how they are created? Let's take a pearl for instance. Pearls are created deep down on the bottom of the ocean inside the shell of an oyster. Think for a moment about the environment the pearl is created in. The ocean floor is dark and cold. What about the oyster shell? Is it the type of home you would want? It is not necessary
the home I would want to be created it. The exterior of the shell is often discolored, crusty and frankly not very attractive. Despite its environment, the pearl is formed. How? By irritation! The oyster response to an irritation caused by a foreign object. The foreign object can be anything from a parasite, to a tiny piece of sand. Have you ever had a foreign object like a pebble in your shoe? Ouch! Anyway, the foreign object slips into an oyster's shell and begins to rub against the soft inner tissue causing irritation. In response to that irritation, the oyster creates a layer of calcium carbonate around the object producing a hard substance. After several years, the substance eventually develops into one of the world's most beautiful gems - the pearl. One fact particularly interesting is that the greater the irritation is, the more valuable the pearl is.
Like the oyster, Ruth experienced many irritations or trails in her young life. She grieved the death of her father-in-law and husband. She bravely faced the turmoil of change in direction of her life as well as a move to a foreign land with a bitter mother-in-law. When she arrives in the strange land, the trails did not end there... She was immediately thrown into a new working situation among total strangers with new customs. Through all this stress, her faith began to wrap itself around the painful situations.
How many people view themselves (or their living environment) as the ugly oyster shell lying on the bottom of a cold dark ocean floor of life? The make matters worse the compare their crusty exterior to all the beautiful seashells around them.
If you are one of these individuals, be encouraged. Don't view the trails of life as irritating grains of sand to be discarded as quickly as possible. Realize God has them there to create something beautiful in you. James 1:2-4 says "Consider it all joy, my brotheren, when you encounter various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
God is using the sands of trails to make you perfect and complete. He's developing pearls of character in your life. An ugly oyster shell is an unlikely place to find a lovely gem, but Isaiah 55:8 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways..." You may see an ugly shell, but God sees the beauty He is creating in you. Are the sands of trails and irritation causing you bitterness right now, or are you willing to allow these trails to change you into a pearl? The Lord wants you to be a Person of Virtue - a costly, beautiful pearl for all to admire. Proverb 31:30 says "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
Pearls by Pam Helm
Gemstones - They are valuable, rare and one of earth's most beautiful treasures but have you ever thought about how they are created? Let's take a pearl for instance. Pearls are created deep down on the bottom of the ocean inside the shell of an oyster. Think for a moment about the environment the pearl is created in. The ocean floor is dark and cold. What about the oyster shell? Is it the type of home you would want? It is not necessary
the home I would want to be created it. The exterior of the shell is often discolored, crusty and frankly not very attractive. Despite its environment, the pearl is formed. How? By irritation! The oyster response to an irritation caused by a foreign object. The foreign object can be anything from a parasite, to a tiny piece of sand. Have you ever had a foreign object like a pebble in your shoe? Ouch! Anyway, the foreign object slips into an oyster's shell and begins to rub against the soft inner tissue causing irritation. In response to that irritation, the oyster creates a layer of calcium carbonate around the object producing a hard substance. After several years, the substance eventually develops into one of the world's most beautiful gems - the pearl. One fact particularly interesting is that the greater the irritation is, the more valuable the pearl is.Like the oyster, Ruth experienced many irritations or trails in her young life. She grieved the death of her father-in-law and husband. She bravely faced the turmoil of change in direction of her life as well as a move to a foreign land with a bitter mother-in-law. When she arrives in the strange land, the trails did not end there... She was immediately thrown into a new working situation among total strangers with new customs. Through all this stress, her faith began to wrap itself around the painful situations.
How many people view themselves (or their living environment) as the ugly oyster shell lying on the bottom of a cold dark ocean floor of life? The make matters worse the compare their crusty exterior to all the beautiful seashells around them.
If you are one of these individuals, be encouraged. Don't view the trails of life as irritating grains of sand to be discarded as quickly as possible. Realize God has them there to create something beautiful in you. James 1:2-4 says "Consider it all joy, my brotheren, when you encounter various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
God is using the sands of trails to make you perfect and complete. He's developing pearls of character in your life. An ugly oyster shell is an unlikely place to find a lovely gem, but Isaiah 55:8 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways..." You may see an ugly shell, but God sees the beauty He is creating in you. Are the sands of trails and irritation causing you bitterness right now, or are you willing to allow these trails to change you into a pearl? The Lord wants you to be a Person of Virtue - a costly, beautiful pearl for all to admire. Proverb 31:30 says "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
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