104 years. This is how long noble jewelry, smuggled from Russia during the 1917 revolution, was hidden – protected for the right moment. The diamonds will be auctioned in Geneva next week. The 25.62 carat pink diamond ring is the star of the collection and can be sold for between R60 and R90 million.

 

Sometimes we too feel isolated like these diamonds. People are scurrying around us, but it feels as if no one knows about our existence. What if God is hiding you? What if He is busy protecting and preparing us to be used by Him for something specific?

 

David was once a shepherd in the field. Joseph was imprisoned. Esther was an orphan. All three of these people needed the "quiet time" so their character could be formed in order to sustain the pressure of fighting a giant, of leading a country in preparation for a famine or to be able to risk her life to plead for the survival of her people.

 

In Psalm 139:17-18 we read: “How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.” In Isaiah 49:16 we read: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . .”

 

God knows about each of us. He sometimes hides us to prepare and protect us. And just as the value of diamonds grew over time, in the same way, our value and character does! May we continue to trust God in every season.

 

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