The Lost Diamond

There was a period of time in my life when I was an agnostic, searching for the truth but rejecting what I had been taught to believe was true.
During this time, I lost something very valuable to me.
The story goes like this……

It had been a very busy day. I had put in my eight hour day as Eaton’s alterationist, then after work dropped off some clothes at the laundry mat, filled the car up with gas, picked up some groceries, and stopped at the bank.
When I finally got home, I washed my hands before I prepared supper and my ring hooked on the towel.
“Strange”, I thought , and looked to see what the cause was.
To my horror, I saw that the setting in my engagement ring was glaringly empty. I did not have many valuable pieces of jewelry and my marquis diamond was easily my most precious possession – more than because of it’s monetary value- it was symbolic of my husband’s love for me and of our marriage. I could not believe that it was gone!
I could hardly bring myself to tell my husband I had lost the stone. He tried to comfort me , but I was inconsolable.
I did not even know where to begin to look, since I had no idea at what point in the day I had lost it. I searched the path I had taken into the house, I searched the car.
Vic helped me look everywhere, and even after he had given up I kept looking, hoping against hope that I would suddenly see it glistening on the floor.
I thought maybe I could have lost it at work, where it may have hooked onto the fabric of a garment I was working on, and when I got to work the next morning I searched everywhere. My fellow employees were very sympathetic and everyone got in on the search – I even asked the maintenance man to take apart the sink in my workroom, just in case it had gone down the drain. He very willingly did so, but it was futile. No stone to be found anywhere. Realistically, I knew it was like looking for a needle in a haystack but I wanted to find my diamond so bad that I saw it everywhere…but as I stared it would turn back into the crumb or pebble or piece of dirt that it really was.
I knew it was hopeless, that finding it was asking for the impossible, but excepting my loss was unbearable. I knew that even if we could afford to replace the stone, which at the time we couldn’t, it wouldn’t be the stone that Vic gave me when we got engaged.
Several days passed, and I was forced to accept the inevitable, the diamond was gone for good.

Then five days later, I was in the washroom at home when suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind, “Go look near the door !” I did not question where the thought came from , I immediately went. I went to the door and knelt down by the wood box that sat beside the free standing wood burning stove. Something immediately caught my now well-trained eye to see anything diamond-sized and I stared waiting for it to turn in a crumb, but it continued to sparkle. Afraid to break the spell, I tentatively reached out and touched it…It was hard. I picked it up in my hand and slowly the realization dawned that indeed, I had truly found my diamond. I had searched there thoroughly several times , I had swept the floor, but somehow I had not seen it.
I don’t know which was more traumatic , the realization I had lost the diamond or the realization that I had found it !!

Several years passed, during which time I came back to faith in God – another story for another time- but one day when I was thinking about how good God was and how grateful I was to Him for all He had done for me, my eyes fell on my ring. I distinctly heard His voice alight with a smile , “You never thanked me for your diamond!”
My heart leaped !! “Oh, Lord, “ I cried , “Was that YOU?”
Of course it was. It could not have been anything else. Everyone who knew I had lost the diamond could not believe that I actually found it, it had been a miracle and miracles need a Miracle Worker !
Now my diamond was doubly precious - symbolic not only of my earthly bridegroom’s love but also of my Heavenly Bridegroom’s love.

There is a Psalm ( 107) that repeats the same verse four times, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!”

I wrote this post to praise Him for His goodness!
When we praise God with thanksgiving for what He has done, we glorify His name . We give reason for our faith in Him and encourage others to believe also.
Just think, if we all who are God’s children would take time to praise God for all He does for us every day.... would our praises not fill the earth ?