Beauty From Pain

"Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."
Matthew 13:46

Most of us know that a pearl is created from pain.  A grain of sand or other obstacle gets inside the oyster shell and the oyster surrounds it with a thick glaze to stop the pain and irritation it is causing.  Eventually this results in a beautiful pearl.  

Strange as that seems to us, it often happens.  God can bring beauty out of pain if we allow Him to work His will through it in our lives.  I used to question why we used the term "Good Friday", knowing the suffering and death Christ endured.  What could possibly be good about that?  Yet look what His suffering brought about: glory for Him and eternal life for those of us who accept the gift of His sacrifice.  As hard as it is to accept, pain can be changed to beauty in our lives if we only turn it all over to the Father.  It isn't easy.  But it works.

My prayer for today:  Father, although we often do not see the final results You are bringing about, help us just hold on to faith in Your wisdom.