God is relentless in His pursuit of us. He speaks to us in a thousand different ways trying to get our attention. He is passionate in His love for us, and patient in His tolerance of us. And, just in case you ever doubt your self-worth, here is proof positive of how special and amazing you are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Matthew 13:45-46, Jesus gave another illustrated sermon about a merchant who was on a venture to find expensive pearls. And he found what he was looking for. It was one so exquisite, so rare, and valuable that he sold everything he had to buy that pearl. And that is the example of our value to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And speaking of a \u201cpearl\u201d that made the difference in my life, I present to you my sweet Mama, Edna PEARL Wheat, who would be 110 years old today. I would be remiss to not celebrate her this day because the best of me came from her. If ever there was an angel on earth, it was her. She was my mentor, role model and everything a mother should be. She selflessly gave: \u201cJust give me the fried chicken neck \u2014 that\u2019s good enough for me.\u201d She always forgave \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s okay. God forgives me all the time. I can sure forgive you.\u201d She unconditionally loved: \u201cIt\u2019s okay that they don\u2019t write or call me much. I love and pray for them anyway.\u201d Her integrity and honesty were of utmost importance to her. I\u2019ll never forget the day, as a tiny tot, that I saw a package of candy on the floor in the store and put it in my pocket. I reasoned that \u201cif it\u2019s on the floor, it\u2019s okay to have it\u201d. When she found it in my pocket, she marched me back into the store to admit my wrong-doing. That incident and lesson stuck with me like glue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She gave me boundaries that worked: \u201cLet your conscience be your guide.\u201d Those words guided me when I was choosing right or wrong. She rarely missed a church service \u2014 Wednesday night, Friday prayer meeting, women\u2019s meetings, Sunday School, AND church \u2014 twice on Sunday. She sacrificed her own needs for my needs. She demonstrated undaunted faith and determination in the toughest of times when my dad was so sick and when our finances were so meager. I heard her praying for me and my siblings from her bedroom. She was the most tender, kind-hearted, loving, gentle, caring, and pure woman I have ever known. She was my hero. Her example made me a better me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason why I\u2019m spotlighting her today is to emphasize it\u2019s not the \u201cpearls\u201d \u2013 the things, treasures, inheritance or jewelry that matter. Mom had very few tangible things to leave us. But what she left us exceeded anything tangible. She left a legacy that money could never buy. Her influence on me caused me to be honest, to love and care passionately, to put my faith in God during the best and worst of times, to give and to suck it up when I\u2019ve been hurt or offended, to trust in God\u2019s plans for my life and to pass on something so much more than the things that can be bought. Her example of faithfulness and love for my dad during his seven year illness and as a positive, thriving widow at 52 years old, was my example during my husband’s illness and passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I intend to leave my children the very best of me\u2026\u2026and the very best of me is my precious mother\u2019s example. What are those things that you\u2019ll leave to your children and grandchildren? \u201cHer children rise up, and call her blessed\u2026.\u201d Proverbs 31:28 Happy Birthday, my sweet Pearl!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, guess what! YOU too, are a pearl of great price and God\u2019s treasure. He searched far and wide for you, and He was overjoyed when He found you. You may have been covered with a little dirt when He first dug you up, but that didn\u2019t matter to Him. He saw the beauty inside you, and He is committed to cleaning and polishing you until you glow with His radiance. Yes, you are His precious child who possesses the character and likeness of Him, the perfect Pearl. And doesn\u2019t that make us want to return His love by a relentess, consuming and passionate pursuit of Him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God is relentless in His pursuit of us. He speaks to us in a thousand different ways trying to get our attention. He is passionate in His love for us, and patient in His tolerance of us. And, just in case you ever doubt your self-worth, here is proof positive of how special and amazing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21105,21106],"tags":[2261,7682,1210,17946,1769,1348,21104,674,2264,40,713,21103,10098,10897,1622],"class_list":["post-14574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pearl","category-pearl-of-great-price","tag-angel-on-earth","tag-beauty-inside","tag-blog","tag-boundaries","tag-christian","tag-conscience","tag-gods-treasure","tag-happy-birthday","tag-inheritance","tag-inspiration","tag-integrity","tag-merchant","tag-pearl","tag-pearl-of-great-price","tag-treasure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14576,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14574\/revisions\/14576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}