By Catherine Sheets

     A few days ago, I was in a rush to get into my car.  I was on my way to work and I was running late.  As I opened the car door with my left hand, since my right hand was clutching my belongings, I hit my engagement ring on the rim of the car roof and, unbeknown to me, the diamond was ripped loose from the prongs of the ring.  It wasn’t until I got to work, that I realized that the diamond was missing.  I thought I had just hit my hand against the car but was not aware of the loss or injury to my ring.

     The entire morning I was in turmoil.  I had lost the diamond from a ring my husband had given me as a token and sign of his love, covenant, and commitment to me.

     I just believed that that diamond was gone forever and I would never see it again.  I was so discouraged because I knew that I would never find it, even if I went back to look for it.  I remembered that, when I got into the car, it was parked on the gravel part of our driveway.  I would be looking for a diamond among the rocks and finding it would be just as virtually improbable as finding a needle in a haystack, as the saying goes.

     But then, as I was relating the mishap to a co-worker, I was given some surge of hope.  She suggested that I go home, get out of my car and see if the sunlight would lead me to that diamond.

     So now I was truly inspired and I returned home, careful not to drive up into the graveled segment of the driveway.  I got out of the car and looked intently, expectantly over the rocks.  The day’s sunlight was so brilliant, so sharp that it reminded me of the Awesome Light of the world. 

     And then I prayed, O Lord, please let me find this diamond.  And then I saw it! A gleam, a glitter, a sparkle amid the shards of rock.  Excitedly, I ran to the very spot where the sunlight was beckoning.  Was it only splintered glass or a piece of aluminum wedged in the rocky maze?  Or could it be that precious stone, that special gem?

I knelt down, and there it was – what I hoped to find!  It was my diamond!

     Quickly, I scooped the small prism into my hand, and then with delicate care, put it into a handkerchief, until I could get it to a local jeweler for repair.

     Thank you, Lord, thank you so much, I prayed.

     And now as I worship here at Living Waters, the Lord has shown me that I have found a diamond  – a body of believers, a cluster of gems – among the rocks.  And then I saw in my spirit this diamond has been chiseled by the Master’s Hands.  Its fine and brilliant prisms are projecting His Light to the world of the lost.  But now this diamond is growing in size, expanding, enlarging and becoming even brighter with God’s own glory to draw all men, like the sunlight that drew me to that small nugget in the heart of rock.   

     And we who comprise this diamond should be swept up in hope and expectation, just as I was when I returned to my driveway, of finding once again the purest and most radiant of jewels, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, who is our husband.  He has given us a sign of His love, covenant and commitment by the ring of the Cross that each of us, as His followers, should wear daily, reminding us of His unconditional betrothal to us, His Bride.  And just as I returned to my driveway to retrieve that beautiful gem, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is returning to retrieve His Bride, the Church, and take Her away to live eternally with Him.