While scrolling through Facebook today I ran across a story that made me think. You see most of my life I have thought that pearls were formed by a bit of sand getting inside of an oyster and then it would form a pearl around that little bit of sand. I guess I haven’t read very many science journals because today I discovered I was wrong. The truth is a pearl is formed when an irritant slips between the shell of the oyster and lodges in its mantle. In an act of self-defense, the oyster secrets a liquid concoction of both argonite and conchiolin which then mixed together to create nacre.  Narce is otherwise known as mother of pearl, and this hardens and forms a pearl around the offending thing that has invaded the oyster. So, a pearl is not formed when something natural in its environment somehow gets inside the oyster. Instead, it’s actually formed when either a parasite or a food particle gets stuck or lodged between the shell of the oyster and its mantle. Why does this even matter?

There’s a lesson to be learned here that applies to real life.  When it comes to the devotions I am inspired to write, I have referred to them as little pearls of wisdom. What did most of these pearls form from? Just like an oyster I’ve had irritants and painful things occur in my life.  Challenging moments and events.  Things that forced growth and learning. From these moments and times, I have learned many lessons and often sought God for assistance and aid. It’s from that place, a place of difficulty that this wisdom I share with you comes. It isn’t something I’ve manufactured on my own. It’s not my wisdom or my words really, although I am using my words to express these thoughts.  Instead, it is what God has laid on my heart and taught me through the adversity I have faced. Lessons I learned, many times the hard way.  I guess I finally realized that true wisdom and learning only comes from challenges and adversity. Just like a Pearl can only come from an irritant such as a parasite or a food particle that got stuck where it shouldn’t be.

What an amazing thing to realize! That there’s a point to the pain and the challenges in our lives. When I was going through my divorce, I remember this song that I listened to at the time, and it was called “nothing is wasted.” It was talking about how in the hands of our Redeemer everything that we experience or absorb in this life God somehow uses, it’s not for nothing. This is actually a comfort because it’s not that he causes our pain because I don’t believe that. It says that every good and perfect gift comes from the father above. The rest of it isn’t his fault it’s because we live in the world we live in. Having said that though, he still is able to use these difficult and even painful things and make something beautiful. He can make a pearl out of a parasite in our life. Pretty amazing right. He didn’t cause the parasite, but he has given us the ability through his love and comfort to transform our pain and our challenges into something of beauty and worth.

That’s what these things I share with you are. Whether it was a devotion about God sustaining grace, learned through a good bit of pain. Whether it’s a devotion about contentment in singleness learned through feelings of loneliness and realizing the truth that I’m not alone. Whether it’s a devotion about how it’s OK to not be ok because of God’s love and acceptance in all of my moments even the not so amazing ones. There have been so many times I have sat down to write in tears over the pain and the challenges that have brought me to the place where God’s truth in that moment was revealed to me.  To the place where I’m ready to share with you that pearl of wisdom and truth and hope created from struggle. I share these pearls in the hopes that it can be a blessing to even one of you who perhaps has struggled in a similar way. I share these pearls in the hopes that perhaps even one of you who has felt that same pain can find peace and know you’re not the only one. I share them because it is the beauty and the good that comes from the challenge and the pain. It’s the pearl beyond price. 

I won’t let these irritants and this pain take over and become my truth. Instead, I will wrap it with the love and comfort from my Savior and allow it to instead become a pearl of wisdom that can be a blessing to others.

In this way, this truth that nothing is wasted and that out of such ugliness can come such amazing beauty, there’s hope. I hope you find that hope today. Without the irritants there would be no pearls, without the struggle there would be no growth, and without the pain we would never know true joy. I pray that whatever challenges you face that you could let God’s love surround you and hold you.  That his love would transform every irritant, parasite, or pain that you face into something of absolute unique beauty. Into opportunities to help others and to display God’s faithfulness. 

The cool thing is that what makes pearls so lovely is that they’re all different. They come in different shades, sizes, and shapes. Just like the ones that we share with others that are formed from the unique adversity in our life. Who knows when someone will need the pearl that has been created in you. I hope you like me are willing to share them because someone else most certainly needs the bits of wisdom and hope you can offer. Share your pearls unashamed and be amazed at where they came from! No longer parasites or pains, instead pearls beyond price!