Dear sisters in Christ,

 It’s a pleasure to bring you what the Lord has taught in my life. The verse “I have engraved you on the palm of my hands (Isaiah 49:16)“ is one of the verse I cling to.

 As a little girl I have seen tough roads but I thank God for molding me. Once when I went to a river bed, I was extremely excited to see the beautiful pebbles sparkling in the water and reflecting the light from the sun. The river was so shallow and I could stand barefooted without complaining that the stones hurt my feet. I began to think how the pebbles were so beautiful, unique, colorful and so smooth.

I then was reminded of the story my leader in a Vacation Bible Study Camp taught me. He said “If only a pebble would talk, you will be awestruck at the journey it went through to become one beautiful pebble. Here goes a gist of its journey. A small piece of rock broke and fell off from a big, huge rock beside a waterfall. This little piece of rock fell into the water and was tossed by it, was hit against other rocks and was covered in mud. The small piece of rock thought to itself what a comfortable life it lived when it was a part of the big rock. Even through this tough journey it never gave up. On it journey to its unknown destination, the small piece of rock started losing its shape and started worrying if something was wrong with it. Time flew and one day it found itself lying in a bed of colorful round blunt rocks and to its surprise it was also round and blunt.

It wondered what its purpose was. It lost its original shape, color etc. Later one morning a little kid came to that river bed, the water was clear, fishes swimming in it and above everything the colorful round rocks were sparkling in the sunshine. The kid shouts “PEBBLES” and starts to pick one pebble by pebble. Finally the small piece of rock became a pebble loved and adored for its color, smooth texture.”

In the same way God is shaping you, breaking you for good. He makes everything beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). All the hurdles you faced is just another way of shaping you. You may not even have the strength  to go through this but you must be sure of the promise that Paul writes to Philippians saying we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). God has not promised a problem free life. He has told in John 16:33, “There are tribulations in this word but I (Christ) have overcome the world.”

 Continue to put your trust in Him, start praising Him for the situation you are in and for the lesson He is teaching you. Above all, be still and know He is God who is in control.

May God bless you.