I woke up early with a skip in my step and a smile on my face. I had plans to head to the airport to attend a Biblical Counseling conference with my mom and sisters. I’d been eagerly anticipating it all summer long.
We arrived at the airport, breezed through security, and found our seats on the plane with no delays. The next few days flew by in a blur as I listened to speaker after speaker share on topics that I’m passionate about. My hand scrambled back and forth as I tried to take as many notes as possible. The conference was even better than I expected it. I was walking on sunshine.
The Dark Cloud Strikes
To my utter despair, the last day of the conference greeted me with a big, mean migraine—the kind of migraine that bans a girl to bed with no hope of escape until the migraine decides it’s time to move along. The last day of the conference came and went, and I was still in bed. I ended up missing the final day of the conference as well as our extra day to explore the city. I was so disappointed!
As I burrowed in the covers, I remembered that I had once heard someone compare the Christian life to a diamond. In order for a diamond to become a beautiful, high-quality stone, it must go through an extremely intense process. It has to endure extreme heat, pressure, mining, cutting, and polishing in order to sparkle.
A diamond must endure the “hardships” in order to come out on the other side looking brilliant. Without the difficult processes, there would be no diamond.
A Diamond in the Rough
Each one of us is like a diamond in the rough. Unless we’re willing to endure the hard stuff, we will never fully develop into the beautiful gems that God created us to be.
As I laid in my bed, I realized that my migraine was a hardship I could use to help bring me one step closer to diamond status. In that moment I had the opportunity to rejoice through suffering, pray during the many hours I was in bed, cry out to God and ask for His comfort, and maintain a grateful attitude even though I was disappointed about missing the last two days of the trip.
That migraine became a “diamond moment.” It was a hardship that I could either take advantage of or I could throw away by complaining and whining.
Take Advantage of Your “Diamond Moments”
I’m confident that if I had the opportunity to sit down face to face with each one of you, I would discover that you have your own hardship you’re experiencing. It could be a relationship challenge, financial issues, health problems, family conflict, or a million other things. We all experience pain, and we all suffer.
Instead of being caught off guard when pain or suffering strikes, I want to challenge you to view that hardship as a “diamond moment.” Instead of getting upset at God for allowing the trial in your life, choose to view it as an opportunity to chisel off some of your rough edges and become more like Christ.
The Bible says it this way:
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation” (Rom. 5:3–4).
The next time you experience unavoidable pain or suffering, ask God to give you a diamond mindset. Pray that you will use that situation to grow closer to God, mature in your relationship with Him, and conform more to His image.
If you choose to cling to Him, thank Him, and praise Him through the fire, you will come out on the other side one step closer to being that beautiful diamond God created you to be.
Are you currently experiencing pain and/or suffering? How can you change your perspective to view it as a “diamond moment”?
