My experiences From Junk to Jewels:

Words can scar you when they are believed. They become part of your internal dialogue listening to them on repeat over and over. The lies from the devil can be like a merry-go-round ever circling our subconscious until these thoughts surface. They surface in the form of sin, illness, and depression.

Matt 3:45-46

Pearl of Great Price:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field.  In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field- and to get the treasure, too!” 

According to Matthew 3, we are like hidden jewels to Jesus. If I was a jewel hidden in a field then I had lost my brilliance. The dirt has been piled on for years and I didn’t shine anymore. Have you  been cleaned in a while? Do you feel tarnished? What caused us to lose our radiance? 

Satan’s Lies Mask Our Luster.

 Now, we have become an old piece hidden in a drawer never to be looked at again. Except there is a curator that knows of our worth. We are valued by HIM and he sees past the fifth. He knows we are precious. After all, he created us. God sent His son, Jesus to die in our place for us. Dear one, if you are struggling with insignificance, insecurity, and loneliness there is a One who can change all that. 

Jesus, God’s only son, said on the cross in John 19:30 , “It is finished.” 

All that hurt and burden of depression can be lifted if we only ask Him. He took our sin debt, the destructive behaviors we carry, and placed them forever there on the cross. No longer do we have to fight our evil desires. We have a Holy Spirit that can fight our battles.  No more do we have to agonize over our failures. Gone is our need to please the world because now we have the Almighty’s attention. He is captivated by us! He just wants us to chose Him.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners”

We can come to him dirty. Our job is to confess and believe. His job is to clean us up. 

Jesus said,”I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 

He is the ONLY way for us to feel lasting relief. No one source on Earth or in Heaven will give us this freedom called Grace. It is given to Jesus from the Father.

All it takes is belief in Jesus, acknowledging that he paid for our sins on the cross, and we are free. 

There’s just one problem. Many of us are used to being dirty. We don’t believe it is possible for someone to love us and bring back our sparkle again. If the devil can’t get us to sin at first then he can lie to us. Then, the lies turn into the sin of rejection of Jesus. This is the only sin not covered by the cross. We choose him and we receive an abundant life here on Earth and an eternity with him in Heaven. A rejection of Jesus’s gift is to spend eternity without Him. My denial of Jesus in my everyday life lead to feelings of being...

DISCARDED, UNWANTED, AND UNLOVED.

The lies echoed in my brain and reverberated like a clanging gong. Soon, they were no longer just lies. These negative thoughts turned into a strong hold that became a detriment to my health. They could be seen on the surface of my skin. You could see it in my broken smile and downcast face. I couldn’t look myself in the mirror. The Lie now had me in its grip and it wasn’t letting go. This disease was killing me. I was chained to my affliction and I wanted to be free.

My sin was rotting me from the inside out. 

Like junk discarded at the dump, the garbage I believed piled up until you didn’t see me anymore. I was invisible. 

Psalm 113 :6 

Far below him are the heavens and the earth. He stoops to look, and he lifts the poor from the dirt and the needy from the garbage dump.

The jewel was gone and in its place was grime of sin. I was desperate for a reprieve. I wanted out even if that meant death. I no longer wanted to wade in the garbage.

We like pearls are very delicate. On the Mohs scale of hardness and durability pearls are a 2.5 to 4.5. A 10 being the most durable gemstone. Buyers are told that pearls should be the last item to put on after clothing, makeup, etc. as to avoid damage to the pearl. Perfume and hairspray should be applied before placing the gemstones around your throat or on your fingers. These toxins can damage the pearls until the buyer no longer wants them. No one wants a dull pearl and I had allowed sin to erode the layers of my heart. 

One day I fell on my face broken. I laid prostrate in my living room crying out to God. I couldn’t go on any longer. It was either God or death.  I cried out to the God of my childhood, Jesus. I said,“Fill me up with your Holy Spirit and take this instead. The THIS was my affliction, my disease, my sin, the lies I believed instead of HIM who gave me breath. 

God took my Junk, afflictions the devil threw at me, and created JEWELS instead.

Every morning I would do this. I would open my bible and read and pray. My burden was lifted. My chains fell away. It took years to get here but now I had a release. The struggle is real but the Holy Spirit blessed me with peace and perseverance. The scratchy surface of my soul was now pristine and polished. I was spotless before Him. Jesus washed away every sin! He took away every pain. My anguish was lifted and I had hope again. I had Jesus right there beside me restoring me and holding me close. There is nothing like feeling God’s presence. God is more precious than any gemstone. So wonderful was the experience God filling my spirit with himself. I was now able to take in light when I had God’s spirit. Before, it wasn’t available to me. Repentence and restoration happened when I chose him. My sin was covered immediately but I am still being restored day by day, hour by hour. The beauty in salvation in that I have enough grace for the moment and He satisfies my soul. As a prism reflects light, I am now able to dwell in and emit His light into a darkened world. 

Zephaniah 3:17

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

I no longer feel unloved for I know that I am adored by God. As it says in Zephaniah, He is in my midst and he quiets me with His love. It is with pure joy that I know He rejoices over me and my return to Him. You can have that Love and Freedom from sin. Choose Jesus. Ask him to take your sin. He has already nailed it to the cross. He gave everything, His very own life so that you could live. He overcame my troubles and not just my sin. Jesus nailed to the cross my despair and insecurity as well. His love validates me. I now have the affection and the ultimate approval that we all seek. Jesus’s acceptance of me is tangible and eternal. Rejection has no place in a life that is validated by LOVE. 

Psalm 31:7

“I am overcome with joy because of your unfailing love for you have seen my troubles and you care about the anguish of my soul.” 

Sin and death no longer have a hold over me. Yes, I still sin. We all do but I am not a slave to it. It not longer atrophies my heart.  I will die but it won’t be lasting. In a blink of an eye I will be with my Lord and Savior. 

Psalm 18:39

You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet. You made them turn and run!” 

My enemy, sin, has lost the war. Is there a sin that consumes you? It doesn’t have to rule your life like it did mine. Instead, accepts Jesus's sacrificial gift. Stay in the Word and meditate on it daily. This way you will be shielded from sin’s pull on your life. I want that for you, friend. I want you to be able to resist sin’s lure. 

I want you to live in Freedom. I want you to Live Loved! I want you to be a Jewel for His glory!