Hoping for a pearl

For those of us that have experienced a loss before, whether that be from a loved one dieing, a divorce, or someone special moving away, I think there is always that point were reality hits and you finally realize that that person is gone and is not coming back. Honestly, I had to go through quit a few of those times during the process of my divorce. Allowing those times to come, along with the pain, made room for healing and a final excitement about the future.

One of those realization times has been coming to mind lately. About two and a half years ago I was with a friend and in need of some encouragement. She prayed for me and then felt lead to tell me this story:

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had a fake pair of pearls. She loved these pearls and wore them everyday, but one day her Daddy came to her and asked her if she would give him the pearls. She of course said no. She loved her pearls and couldn't bare to part with them. Her Daddy continued day after day to ask her for them, but she continued to say 'No!' Her Dad had told her that if she gave him those pearls that he had something very special he wanted to give to her. One evening the little girl began to think about how much she loved her pearls, but also about how much she loved and trusted her Father. The very next day she gave those fake pearls to her Dad and immediately he handed her the most beautiful pearl necklace she had ever seen, but there was something other then it's beauty that was different about this these pearls ---- they were REAL.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the 'real' pearls God has blessed me with. How through this I have come to have more intimacy with a 'real' God who, in the process, has taught me how to be the 'real' me.
There is, though, a pearl I have not yet gained. A pearl that I hope will some day be a husband that God has orchestrated in my life the 'real' way God has called love and marriage to be, but I'm okay with the wait (well, not always, but today I am) because I know that 'real' pearls take a while to form. They require a lot of time and friction to develop into something lovely, and during that time the pearl is completely hidden from view. So, when I look around and see nothing, or no one, I try to remember this about 'real' pearls. I also try to remember that it really must take an act of God to find a pearl-- I mean the oceans pretty dang big! So, that leaves me just trusting the Daddy that has always been trustworthy, and I bet, if He knows the number of hairs on my head that He also knows right where my pearl is and He'll bring it to me right on time.