Quotes from "Stones of Fire"

Yesterday I finished reading Isobel Kuhn's "Stones of Fire."  It is a tale of her ministry in China among the Lisu people.  Through the story she weaves the concept of God's people as precious gems in the hands of a master lapidary.  Here are three paragraphs I would like to share which introduce different chapters in the book.  We ought not to think it strange when we are faced with trials and difficulty.  This is God's way to mold us into vessels He can use for His glory.

"Diamond dust mixed with oil is the only abrasive used in polishing precious stones.  It is put upon fast rotating wheels called "skaifs" at 2,500 revolutions per minute, and the gem held firmly against them.  A quick succession of hard, unconquerable particles pressed against the jewel will polish it.  The spiritual counterparts, as God brings them into human lives, are sharp and painful events that follow fast one upon another, all of them irresistible, which cannot be pushed away but must be accepted and endured.  When the skaif is removed, one sees the beautiful lights of patience, self-sacrifice, and humility shining forth.  Those who watch it from above, see it as the Master Lapidary's diamond dust polishing His stones of fire." (pg. 82)

"Do you know that lovely fact about the opal?  That in the first place, it is made only of desert dust, sand, and silica, and owes its beauty and preciousness to a defect.  It is a stone with a broken heart.  It is full of minute fissures which admit air, and the air refracts the light.  Hence its lovely hue and that sweet lamp of fire that ever burns at its heart, for the breath of the Lord God is in it.  You are only conscious of the cracks and desert dust, but so He makes His precious opal.  We must be broken in ourselves before we can give back the lovely hues of His light, and the lamp in the temple can burn in us and never go out."  - Ellice Hopkins (pg. 147)

"The most magnificent diamond in the world's history was presented to the King of England, who sent it to Amsterdam to be cut.  It was put into the hands of an expert lapidary, and what do you suppose he did?  He took that gem of priceless worth and cut a notch in it.  Then he struck it a hard blow with his instrument, and lo! the superb jewel lay in his hand cleft in twain...For days and weeks that blow had been studied and planned.  Drawings and models had been made of the gem.  Its quality, its defects, its lines of cleavage, had all been studied with the most minute care.  That blow was the climax of the lapidary's skill...Seeming to ruin the superb precious stone, it was in fact its perfect redemption.  For from those two halves were wrought two magnificent gems...to blaze in the crown of state."  - Streams in the Desert (pg. 125)