An oyster's life

"One of life's most costly and beautiful objects is born out of pain and irritation - the pearl. A tiny piece of sand slips into an oyster's shell and begins to rub against the soft tissue, causing irritation. In response to the irritation, the oyster produces a hard substance. This substance eventually develops into one of the world's most beautiful jewels - a lovely luminous pearl. In fact, the greater the irritation, the more valuable the pearl!"

This little story is from the book "Lady in Waiting" by Debbie Jones and Jackie Kendall. The chapter basically talks about the trials and irritations of a woman that come with not being married. But a woman has to realize that God has them there to create something beautiful inside her and to make her ready for a relationship in the future. But this story offers a lot more.

While reading, a lot of other thoughts ran through my mind. This story should not only be limited to the fact of singleness.
How often do we have to face trials and ask God "Why did this happen to me?","Don't You love me anymore?""You seem to be so far away."
To be honest, I would assume this happens almost every day. And the times of joy and happiness seem to be too few. Well let me tell you something. There will never be a time that you don't worry about something in your life. Sometimes it's a co-worker that annoys you or you're worried about a family member or you're just not happy with some things that happen in your life. The whole trick is to delight in those apparently hopeless times.
I know, life can be sooo unfair. But regardless of all the things you have to struggle with please try to remember that trials are necessary and we should even be happy about them. Like James said

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Wow, sounds great, doesn't it?
But sometimes the temptations seem so hard that we're often afraid to fail. Don't worry and listen to what Paul has to say in 1. Corinthians:

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Man, I like that verse. We will "not be tempted beyond what we can bear". That means we can be sure that nothing will be too hard in life that we won't find a way out of that difficult situation. The Lord will be there for us, every single minute for the rest of our lives.

Now back to the little story at the beginning. Just imagine that the oyster is you and the tiny piece of sand is one of your struggles. It infiltrates your life and begins to "rub" inside of you. It causes irritations such as physical or mental problems. So it's about time to find a way out of that situation, time to produce a "substance" that helps to go through the trial. If you don't know what to do, ask God and trust Him to show you the way. At the end you will find yourself matured I promise and you'll also begin to realize that the harder the trial the stronger you became. Perhaps as strong as the pearl in the oyster.