“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
~ ~ Matthew 13:44 NASB
"All of my life," he explained to me, "I've read that little story in the New Testament and - because of my upbringing - interpreted it to mean that the gospel was the pearl of great price and that I needed to give anything, everything I had to possess it."
I nodded. "And?"
"As I was reading it over again it dawned on me for the first time ... what it really meant."
I grinned.
His voice grew husky, and his eyes misted over.
"I am the pearl." He cleared his throat, blinked hard once, twice. "God gave everything He had to purchase me." He grew silent; his eyes brimming. "I ... I had it all backwards." A tear spilled over and nestled in the hollow beneath his eye. He took his glasses off and wiped the offending water away.
"You realize what this is, don't you?" I prodded.
He nodded. "It's the beginning - the very beginning of an answer to my prayer."
"I remember that prayer. I've been praying the same thing for you."
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| Photo "Rose And Pearls" courtesy of Victor Habbick at www.freedigitalphotos.net |
"I'd call this a pretty good first step."
He nodded thoughtfully. "I guess so."
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It's personal. God's love is personal!!
One whispered prayer in the middle of the night, one heart's cry, one sigh, one tear - whatever form it takes - He hears. He loves to answer those kinds of prayers, and He will tailor-make the answer to the person praying the prayer. The harder the challenge, the more broken the heart, the more delight He takes in orchestrating events, timed down to the last detail, to show us how much He loves us in a way that only that individual can understand and receive. He really, truly, intimately loves us. Each of us.
He does. It's why He came - because you are the pearl.
Just ask Him. He'll show you.
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