Built with Stones of Tourquoise

Isaiah 54: 11 states...I will build you with stones of Tourquoise.

Interesting...at least that phrase is interesting to me. I make jewelry and I am always looking at a new way to make something or a new "signature" piece for something I am making. I am always checking out what others are wearing, or what is in the stores. In fact, many of my friends have oooed and awed over things we see in the stores only to hear me tell them..."I can make that for you if you would like". So I am always looking for the interesting, the unique and the unusual. And many of those who see the jewelry I make ask if I can make them one...and I usually answer "sure but I would like to make it special for you and not just a copy of what I am wearing." I want that jewelry piece to speak something about them. To be an original...just as they are an original made special and unique by our God.
Well this morning I was reading over my devotional for yesterday (yep...didn't get to this one yesterday morning) in Streams in the Desert. And there is the scripture that I wrote above. Tourquoise is a very unique stone...not one piece is the same as another. I like that about stones. Just the other day I got a beautiful Lapis ring at the Farmers Market...and it too is the kind of stone that is not like another piece of Lapis. That is what I like about both types of stones....anyway............back to the message here...
So I am reading the message for September 1 and I just marveled at how it applies to each one of us on this journey in life....and I loved the idea of being a stone of Tourquoise. Let me pass along to you the message and then you will see what I mean.
I will build you with stones of Tourquoise (Is 54:11)
The stones in the wall said, "We have come from mountains far away---from the sides of rugged cliffs. Fire and water have worked on us for ages but have only produced crevices. Yet human hands like yours have make us into homes where children of your immortal race are born, suffer, rejoice, find rest and shelter, and learn the lessons that our Maker and yours is teaching. But to come to the point of being used for this purpose, we have endured much. Dynamite has torn at our very heart, and pickaxes have broken and split us into pieces. Often as we lay disfigured and broken in the quarry, everything seemed to be without design or meaning. But gradually we were cut into blocks, and some of us were chiseled with sharper instruments until we had a fine edge. Now we are complete, are in our proper places, and are of service. "
"You, however, are still in your quarry. You are not complete and because of that, as once was the case with us, there is much you do not understand. But you are destined for a higher building, and someday you will be placed in it by angelic hands, becoming a living stone in a heavenly temple."
In the still air the music lies unheard;
In the rough marble beauty lies unseen;
To make the music and the beauty needs
The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen.
Great Master, touch us with Your skillful hands;
Let not the music that is in us die!
Great sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let,
Hidden and lost, Your form within us lie!

So that is a rather interesting way of looking at who we are...and what our lives are like, and can be like through Jesus Christ our Lord...the Great Master, the Great Sculptor.
When we look at a beautiful stone...whether diamond, emerald, ruby, topaz, lapis or trouquoise...we always marvel at how beautiful it is...yet it doesn't get that way by accident...great force, elements and sculpting went into making that stone a beautiful gem....why not us too!!!
Things to think on maybe???
Lots of Love!!
Lorrie
Oh and 11 more days til I leave for Ukraine!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!