Gold mining

Ive been reading this book called "Finding Gods purpose" and something I read last night got me to thinking. I'm pretty excited about this one!! It also sparked another thought... Im not sure where Ill go with it ;) but anywho...

Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in America in the early 1900s, so wealthy that he employed over 42 millionaires! One day a reporter who was intrigued by Carnegie's wealth asked how he developed these men to become so valuable that he would pay them that much money. Carnegie explained, "Men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold, but one doesn't go into the mine looking for dirt — one goes in looking for gold. And the more he looks for, the more he finds."

After this story, the writer challenged people to look past mistakes of people in their lives and mine for gold in them. I'd been buried in the dirt that yesterday! My discouragement and feelings of failure as a Christian woman left me so disappointed in myself. I was also convinced God felt the same way about me.
Pity set in and I started wishing I had a gold-miner in my life who could see beyond my mistakes and find the gold in me. That's when God whispered to my heart, "Crystal, I am that gold-miner. You are the one who is so critical of yourself. You are the one who focuses on your faults. But I see the gold of My image in your heart, and I want to bring it to the surface so people can see Me in you."

As I sat there trying to process what God was whispering to my heart, stories and promises from the Bible started flooding my thoughts helping me believe that God really does see beyond who I am to who I can become. It would take time for those truths to sink in, but that day God used His thoughts to give me a new perspective - of Himself and of myself. Then He challenged me to look for ways to transfer that perspective to the people in my life.

It's easy to get buried in the dirt of discontentment, disobedience and discouragement. You may even be thinking, Where's the gold in it all? I wondered, too. But after reading Carnegie's story and hearing God speak to my heart, I wanted to become a gold-mining woman.

As I thought about the gold I'd like to find in my loved ones, character traits like patience, kindness and contentment came to mind. He taught me to take my eyes off of habits and focus on hearts, they way that he does.

Lord, thank You for not focusing on the dirt in my life but seeing beyond who I am to who I can become. Help me believe that, receive that and give it away to my future children , my future husband and my friends. Help me look at their hearts and encourage the glimpses of You that I see in them. Help me to continue on my journey to becoming a Godly woman.