When I first accepted Jesus as my Christ and Savior, I had an unquenchable thirst to learn about Him. In an attempt to overcome a mental health condition ("a thorn in my side"), I looked for the Lord in everything. I spent alot of time reading the bible, ancient history and devotionals. One of the first devotionals I read that made a positive impact upon me was about twelve pearls found in a book called Streams In The Desert.
"Every gate a pearl! Every entrance into the heavenly life is through a pearl!" A quote found in a text written by Dr. Edward T. Sullivan.
What is a pearl? Read carefully because this is so applicable to all of us in one way or another.
"A wound is made in a shell. a grain of sand, perhaps, gets imbedded in the wound. Allthe resources of repair are rushed to the place where the breach has been made. When the breach has been closed, and the process of repair is complete, a pearl is found closing the wound. The break calls forth unsuspected resources of the shell and a beauty appears that is not otherwise brought out. A pearl is a healed wound? "No wound, no pearl!"
Sullivan went on to explain how, in our lives, misfortune can be transformed into blessing, hurts changed into pearls of precious value. Even a burdensome handicap may become a lifesaving force. He tells a story of Nydia, the blind flower girl in the Last Days of Pompeii. She had not become bitter about her blindness; nor had she sulked or sat at home. She had gone about the business of living and had earned her livelihood as best she could. Then came the awful day of the eruption of Vesuvius, with "the doomed city ashes; the terror-stricken inhabitants rush blindly to and fro, and lose themselves in the awful blackness." But Nydia does not get lost because of her cross of blindness, she had learned to find her way by touch and hearing, and now she could go straight to rescue the life of the one she loved best. Bylearning to walk swiftly and surely in the darkness of her blindness, she had made of her handicap a treasure and a God-send in the dark hour.
"Every gate a pearl!" Every misfortune, every failure, every loss, may be transformed. God has the power to transform all "misfortunes" into God-sends. Sweet Jesus was our God-send. So Jesus transformed the cross from a criminal's badge of shame into the sign of the love of God. Often it takes a wound to transform a denying Peter into a fearless rock of a man. "No wound, no pearl!"
May we all become pearls.
In Jesus I pray, Amen.
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A Thorn in my side a blessing? Can our thorns transform us into pearls?
They can by the Grace of Jesus.
Apostle Paul had a "thorn in his side." According to Halley's Bible Handbook, Paul suffered from Chronic opthalmia, a disease of the eyes that was not painful but, at times, made him repulsive in appearance.
This theory comes from the Epistles:
**The "thorn" struck Paul 14 years before he wrote this epistle (vv.2, 7), which was about the time when e entered Galatia on his first missionary journey.
**His entrance into Galtia was accompanied by some sort of physical infirmity (Galatians 4:13), and Paul was so offensive in appearance that it constituted a sore trial to anyone in his presence (Galatians 4:14).
**They would have given him their own eyes (Galatians 4:15) -- why eyes, unless that was his particular need?
** Paul's typical "large" handwriting (Galatians 6:11) may have been due to poor eyesight. Paul dictated many of his letters to his helpers.
I see what Paul accomplished in his life and I see that his strength came from Faith in Jesus. Paul's thorn turned Paul into a wonderful pearl.
Paul writes: "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore wil I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2Corinthians 12:9 KJV
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