From Coal to Diamonds

I was speaking with a friend today and she mentioned that even though she is going through tough trials and hard times right now in her life, that she knows that even though it seems hard and doesn’t feel great, that she is being refined and that she is growing. I think she nailed it!!

Think about it, the whole reason for trials in our lives is to refine us, to help us grow and progress, and to make us better!!

Did you know that a piece of coal only becomes a diamond after it is exposed to extreme temperatures, temperatures that are over 2,000 degrees F; and intense pressure, pressure which is about 50 times stronger than the pressure here on earth’s surface..? Isn’t that crazy!?

The coal is refined, beautified, and transformed into a beautiful diamond ONLY after it is exposed to so much pressure and heat!! If the coal was not exposed to these “trials” it would just remain a lump of coal and it would not undergo it’s transformation into that beautiful diamond!! Incredible!!

I know that this same principle applies to us!! Not that we should go out and put ourselves in hard situations so that we can be refined, but I have found that right in the middle of my darkest days and most extreme trials, I have been able to find comfort knowing that no matter how bad I felt, or how bad things got for me, that what I was experiencing was ALL for my own good and that I was growing and being transformed into something better!! I was going through the same process that coal had to pass through to be transformed into a beautiful diamond!! I found comfort in the fact that even though it didn’t feel good and things were very hard, that I was being refined and that I was growing!! I was being transformed from the lump of coal that I was!! It’s an incredible process!!

This knowledge brings me peace and hope, even in the most dire of situations and I share it with you in the hope that it will also help you to find peace, comfort, and hope in your lives, especially during your hardest trials and darkest days!!

Remember that ALL these things are for YOUR good, YOU are growing, YOU are being refined and YOU are transforming into a beautiful diamond as a direct result of your trials and hard times!! YOU will become that much better and that much stronger as you overcome your trials!!

And the best part of YOUR transformation is that as you overcome your trials, YOU will be able to comfort, assist, and guide your family, friends, and even strangers, in a way that you would have never been able to before your transformation took place!! And that transformation came as a direct result of your trials!! Think about that for a minute!!

I can’t believe I am going to write this but… I am grateful for my trials!! Trials, Thank you for working on this old lump of coal!!

God Bless YOU in your trials, refinement, and growth!!

-Brandon D. Byrge

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