October 28, 2008
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The Tapestry of Adversity Creates Gold…
The dry wind whipped around her hair. It blew the long strands across her weathered face. Lips, wet with tears, formed an expression of sheer devotion. Singing softly, her voice was carried throughout the dark distance. She sat in sand. Her legs were covered in the coarse granules of this desert place. Bold colors of a tapestry hung loosely on her petite figure. She had learned from birth to celebrate in her despair, to praise in her weakness, to hope when life seemed hopeless. She had been taught that the refining process of God’s children creates the most beautiful nugget of gold.
“I desire,” she sang.
“The one thing I desire is to be this gold bracelet–the gold thread that hems your robe Father!”
Her voice seemed desperate. She cried with her whole being. Her body convulsed, and her soft hands quivered in utmost elevation. She was in need. She was in need of her Savior.
We are all in need of the One that makes us whole. We are all searching for that person who fills the void inside our powerfully pumping hearts. He is the treasure that we devote our lives to searching for. He is the incalculable diamond that decorates the shelves of museums. He is the colors that grace artists hands. He is the crown that frames kings and queens heads. God is priceless.
Though life is hard, brutal, and sometimes, uncaring, God is solid, gracious, and always compassionate. We must remember in the heat of hardship that Jesus was pierced so that we might have life. He endured enormous suffering on our behalf. He was mocked and wounded—but not defeated.
God has placed in us a spirit to overcome—a spirit to overcome the obstacles life throws at us. It’s funny, just when we think the road is easygoing, another trial is placed in our faces. We must learn to smile in the presence of difficulty. It is through distress that our character is tried, molded, and, yes, shaped.
I pray we all come through this refining process shining like the brightest star! How beautiful to be shaped into a delicate, intricate vessel that can, not only, be used for practical purposes; but can also be placed on display as a decorative piece of art!
-Kimberly Willingham
“Pure gold does not fear furnace.”
-Chinese Proverb
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…”
-1 Peter 1:6-8
“Tragedy is like strong acid — it dissolves away all but the very gold of truth.”
-D.H. Lawrence
