Creating Gemstones

I have been reading a book “God’s Most Precious Jewels Are Crystallized Tears” by Barbara Johnson.  It has really been making me think.

 “You see, like jewels, Christians are hard to polish!  Every gemstone must be polished before it can be placed in the setting.  Just as a jeweler uses diamond-edged tools and files to turn a rough stone into a beautiful gem, the trials that roll through our lives, fracturing our hearts and grinding us down, serve to polish us so that we shine more brilliantly as God’s most precious jewels.”

 This quote to me is the essence of the book so far.  Barbara Johnson shares stories of friends who have been through great trials that have polished them so they shine more brilliantly.  With each of these stories she talks about specific gemstones and how the characteristics of those gemstones fit each story she has told. 

 “Scientists aren’t exactly sure how a black piece of carbon is transformed into a dazzling diamond, but they are sure that tremendous heat and pressure are involved.” 

I love the analogy of gemstones and how their beauty is brought out.  While I would never choose to go through everything I have gone through in the past six to seven months, not to mention other major trials in my life, I have always hoped to see good come of it.  But it is only in this trial that I have thought about how it is changing and shaping me into a different and hopefully better person.