Thursday Brew with Gwen: Lost Diamond

Maureen, not her real name, discovered that a diamond was missing from her engagement ring.  Maureen was very upset. The loss was so great it felt as if her left hand had been cut off.

Maureen and her husband turned the house upside down. The house received a spring clean in winter like never before. The vacuum cleaner hummed overtime and its contents sieved through.  The diamond was never found.  Maureen grieved, as it were, for a long time.

The story reminds me of me.  I was like the lost diamond.  As a teenager I was lost, I had nowhere to go, unemployable, uneducated, and no idea how to work. I wasn’t thinking about God or his involvement in my life, I mostly thought about having a good time.  Though I knew this was not right. I should have a job. In those days there was no dole or social service for the unemployed.

Looking back, I can see God’s hand searching for a way to my heart, guiding by circumstances to the point where I would, unlike the diamond, be found. Where I would adopt a good work ethic and be employable. Mostly, I earned money by being self employed by growing a dressmaking and an embroidery business.

The day came when I said yes to the Lord and opened my heart to him and invited him to come and live in my heart. It was the best thing I ever did. The Lord became an inner presence, an inner voice, an inner strength.  Someone who believed in me, who loved me, a personal, intimate relationship grew over the years.

The diamond was never found; it lay hidden in some nook or cranny. It’s beauty hidden from the world. Maureen’s heart never mended.

I could be likened to the lost diamond. When the Lord found me, he brushed me off, faceted me until I glittered and glowed, reflecting His light.

I became a new person.

I am now able to say,  ‘…and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’(Galatians 2: 20. LB)