\n
\u201cConsider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. \u00a0And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.\u201d (James 1:2-4)<\/p>\n
This is one of those verses, you know them\u2026the ones that are true, even when you don\u2019t want them to be, the ones that hit you where it hurts. \u00a0Who wants trials? Trials are not fun; they are painful. \u00a0I can\u2019t think of anyone who would ask for one, but ask or not, they come. \u00a0We can all tell some stories of pain, suffering, waiting or some other kind of challenge we have faced. \u00a0What must we admit once we are on the other side of the trial? \u00a0It has usually resulted in growth. \u00a0We become stronger, more sensitive, and closer to God.<\/p>\n
I love the visual the authors use to explain the process we are going through as a lady in waiting. \u00a0A pearl. \u00a0For many of us, it isn\u2019t the first time we have heard how pearls are formed. \u00a0What I loved were the parallels they used. \u00a0How many of us have felt like the ugly oyster shell just sitting on the beach being passed over, watching all the prettier seashells get picked up and taken home? \u00a0I know I have. \u00a0And I think as more time goes on, and I see more seashells go home, it starts to feel hopeless. \u00a0But God does not want us in that place!<\/p>\n
He is doing a beautiful work in us! \u00a0There is our hope. \u00a0The grain of sand, whether it is divorce, loneliness, abuse or any number of other trials we face are not meant to be irritating and painful forever. \u00a0God takes that pain and turns it into something beautiful. \u00a0This is not an instant process though. \u00a0The reworking takes time. \u00a0What is most amazing to me is the greater the irritation, the more valuable the pearl! \u00a0Think about how beautiful our final products will be.<\/p>\n
It is through these works, these trials that God puts us through, and how we come out the other side, that we will become the women that God wants us to be. This is the woman who will be ready for the man who God has for us. \u00a0There will be someone who wants to know what is inside that oyster shell, and see our true beauty. \u00a0This is not to say that we are unattractive, that men can only be drawn to our inner beauty despite our outer beauty. \u00a0But what it does say is that true love comes from true beauty. \u00a0If someone is only attracted to the outside shell and puts little worth on what is on the inside, the relationship is doomed before it begins.<\/p>\n
Beauty fades, character doesn\u2019t<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0What attracted Boaz to Ruth? \u00a0It wasn\u2019t her outer beauty. \u00a0In fact, she looked very different from the other women in the area, beautiful or not. \u00a0When Ruth asks Boaz why she should receive his favor Boaz replies, \u201cAll that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been reported to me, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth, and you came to a people who you did not previously know\u201d. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t what Ruth looked like that caused Boaz to fall in love with her, it was the woman of virtue that she was.<\/p>\n So ladies, let God work in you. \u00a0Take those sands of pain and turn it into a beautiful string of pearls that all ladies of virtue deserve to wear proudly. \u00a0The Lord wants you to be a lady of virtue \u2013 a costly, beautiful pearl for all to admire.<\/p>\n God bless,<\/strong><\/p>\n Michelle<\/p>\n ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n For the “Lady in Waiting” Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the “sign-up here” button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!<\/p>\n Please email Christi@girlfriendscoffeehour.com if you have any questions, or if you have a private comment that you would like to forward to one of our bloggers in regards to their post that day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cConsider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. \u00a0And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.\u201d (James 1:2-4) This is one of those verses, you know them\u2026the ones that are true, even when you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[147,293,425,545,546,593,968,1105,1140],"class_list":["post-2637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible-study","tag-debby-jones","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-james-12-4","tag-lady-in-waiting","tag-singles-bible-study","tag-virtue","tag-womens-online-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-Gx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2637"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8217,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions\/8217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}