Becoming Sparkly

 These lil rocks are my mascot for this part of my life, and I promise its not because I'm gloating over the really pretty one Justin gave me.


  I want to be a diamond.


  Diamonds are the result of a long, highly pressurized process that happens deep in the earth's crust.  They undergo thousands of years of pressure and are only brought to the upper layers of the earth through volcanic activity.  The average diamond has been compressed by 40 - 60 kilobars of pressure, which is roughly 870,227 pounds per square inch of raw diamond materiel. As if endless compression and explosions aren't enough, diamonds can only arrive at a beautiful, sparkly state through several stages of precise cutting -which can only be done with other diamonds.  Being a diamond isn't easy, because becoming something beautiful means enduring all kinds of hardship for the sake of the end goal.

  Life is so hard!  There are so many situations in which many of us probably feel pressurized, exploded and sliced up. I'm believing God, that the work he began in my heart is being continuously refined through the difficult circumstances in my life.  Hard days at work, people's criticism, and the pressure of classes and school events are not always something I can change, but God is pursuing my total dependence through these things.  He is shaping me into something that I cannot make myself into through my own power.

  The end result is always so much more beautiful than the easy, hassle-free way.