There is Beauty in the Pain…
I was reading a devotional this week by Susie O’Niell, and was encouraged by what she was sharing through it. In the devotional, she was talking about oysters.
A grain of sand makes its way into the deepest part of the oyster. It is irritating and uncomfortable. What is amazing is that something so small as one grain of sand can cause so much pain. The oyster knows it can’t be removed so it will work to make it improved.
First, it must embrace the irritant. Steadfastly, the oyster begins to cover the grain of sand with layer upon layer of its velvety, protective substance. It takes a long time, sometimes years to finish the work. It toils tirelessly in the dark and in the depths to transform the environment inside itself with a lasting testimony.
From one painful invader comes a precious, valuable, one-of-a-kind pearl. From the struggle to the treasure, the pearl becomes part of the oyster’s autobiography.
The grain of sand can be anything that causes you pain: abuse, heartbreak, disappointment, depression, grief, illness… you name it. We all have one or more of them. Life has pain and setbacks, they are unavoidable. Some of us seem to live on a continuum where we seem to go from suffering to suffering.
One day, what was once your pain, will be taken by God and he will cover it with his divine protection; smoothing out the rough edges, giving it an iridescent shine. Maybe one day, you’ll open your hardened shell and your pearl can be offered to someone else. For in your suffering and in your brokenness, you can gain a deeper understanding and empathy for others. Your pain can become a promise; your struggle, a song of deliverance.
Perhaps you are spending too much time focusing on the sand and the irritation. Instead, focus on the process and the outcome. There are reasons we go through hard things. There are reasons God has to break us down. It is only after we have overcome that we can become co-workers with God.
One pearl on its own is beautiful, but how much more valuable do they become as one-by-one they are strung together on the string of the necklace of our own testimony.
Yes, something bad happened to you. You were hurt and irritated. But an oyster never injured will never produce pearls, because the pearl is the proof that the wound has been healed.
Romans 8:18 says, “I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory that is about to be unveiled within us.” The word for glory comes from the Greek word “doxa” can also be translated “radiant beauty,” “splendour,” “perfection.” That is exactly what God is doing – taking the pain and suffering in your life and turning it into beautiful pearls. So, be encouraged! What you are experiencing is not in vain, and it is being used by Him!
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. What grain(s) of sand exist in your life right now?
2. How are you seeing God work in your life to turn those irritating grains of sand into pearls?
3. How does this change your perspective on what you are experiencing in this season of your life?
4. Who in your life can you encourage with this thought today?