PEARLS + GOLD.

I love wearing apparel w/ purpose. I love wearing things that have a greater meaning behind them. Which is why I try to only share products through Cassidy Designs that display the Lord’s heart as encouragement to you. Covered in prayer. Rooted in Truth. To point you to The Creator by each created thing. 

This is what I love about pearls + gold. The only kind of jewelry I wear, simply because it points me back to Jesus every time. That’s what material things are meant to do. Never to be praised, but to point us to He who is worthy of all praise. 

Pearls are precious. And valuable. Pearls are the gates we will walk through into Heaven. Pearls are wisdom adorn around the neck. Pearls represent the Kingdom of God. Pearls are God’s Unfailing Love + Redemption. These are a few of the things He reminds me of when I look at the pearls on my hand.

Psalm 130 is one of my favorites. The singer cries from the depths, “Lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.” 

Can you relate? Have you ever cried from the deepest depths? Psalm 42 says our deep calls to His deep. And is fully satisfied in the depths of who He is. 

Psalm 130 goes on to detail God’s endless forgiveness in the midst of our endless record of sin. So we can serve Him w/ reverence. Then the singer says, “I wait for you Lord.” W/ more surety than the watchmen that wait for the morning, knowing He will come. 

"Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.“

I love this quote from Charles Spurgeon, “In this Psalm we hear of the pearl of redemption, verses 7 and 8: perhaps the sweet singer would never have found that precious thing had he not been cast into the depths. ‘Pearls lie deep.’”

Feeling like you have been cast into the depths of your situation? Rest assured - that’s where pearls are found. Not only so. But that is where He is. With you. There is beauty even in the broken, the deep, the trial, the pain - its Him. Every time. Our Redeemer + Lover. 

Pearls are also referred to as wisdom worn around the neck. 

Proverbs 3 is all about how wisdom bestows well being. "My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck."

One day, someone I love and look up to gifted me a pearl necklace that symbolized wisdom. Along with the necklace, she handed me a piece of paper that read, "The value of God's wisdom far exceeds that of silver, gold, or rubies." She always says to string pearls of wisdom, and she does so so beautifully. 

As I clutched onto such a sweet gift, I felt the Lord nudge me to give them to someone else as encouragement. 

I held onto them tighter, “but God these are my special gift from you, I want to keep them. But if you want me to give them, I will.” 

With a surety in my heart, I released the pearls for His greater purpose. I gave them to the girl I was talking with and had her put the necklace on. 

“These are the pearls of wisdom. They are meant to be worn, so others can see their beauty,” He spoke through me. “Share your wisdom, people need to hear the words the Lord is giving you. And remember - we don’t cast our pearls before swine. People will have their opinions. But we must not let that steal from what The Lord has spoken. Instead walk confident, adorned in the pearls He has so kindly strung + purposefully fastened around your neck.” 

As I walked away from that sweet conversation, I contemplated what I would say to the one who gifted them to me. Would she be upset I gave away her gift? Would she be disappointed? 

The Lord so gently assured me as tears filled my eyes, “She would have probably had another necklace of pearls in her back pocket to give me because she not only knew I would have given them away, but always has more to give.”

And that was the heart of the Father, that He was longing to show me.

The paper I was given also read, "if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to you." James 1:5

In this The Lord was teaching me so much more than just giving away a pearl necklace. He was longing to show me He can do much more with my surrender than I can ever do with my keeping. He was showing me I can give His gift of wisdom joyfully knowing The One who gives to me is a Good Father who longs I give generously as He does. And that wisdom is not meant to be kept to myself, but humbly worn + shared with others. So others can wear them too. 

We need not seek wisdom, but the One who gives it. When we do, we will have an overflow. Simply because the One who gives wisdom, only gives in abundance. He is who makes our cup runneth over.

"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." James 3:17

Pearls are also used to allude to The Kingdom of Heaven. 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.“ Matthew 13:45-46 

This merchant sold all He had for one Pearl. It was that worth it to Him. 

Everything for one pearl. The Kingdom of Heaven + having you there with Him, is that worth it to Jesus. That He would lay down His life to have you live with Him forever. 

Separation was the result of sin. Yet reconciliation was the heart of The Father. He left Heaven to have us again. Because we are His! This place is not our home! We get to be apart of His Kingdom in Heaven forever, just as He always wanted. 

I love how Taya sings it in her song, ‘Jesus > Everything,’ “Nothing can compare. No one can compete. Pearl of greatest price, worth everything to me. Cause what more could I want? What more could I need? Jesus, Jesus over everything.” 

And I love how Paul words it in Philippians 3:8, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” 

It is true. Knowing Jesus and being known by Him is greater than anything else in this world. Everything else is a loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. We lose all things that we might gain Christ. He must become greater, I must become less. 

Speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven, the gates that open up to that incomparably beautiful place are said to be made of pearls. 

Revelation 21:21 begins with, “The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.” 

Just the entry way to Heaven will be so precious + pure. Can you even imagine not only the inside, but the center of Heaven Himself! Worthy of all praise. Worthy to be adored. Precious beyond measure!

We won’t have to worry about tear filled eyes distorting our vision in Heaven. Instead, we will never be able to look away from He who wipes away our tears. 

I love how Enduring Word puts it, "If the dimensions and descriptions seem confusing or impossible, there are two main principles to keep in mind. First, we must understand the ideas communicated in the details (glory, beauty, splendor, and so forth). Second, we must understand that this is the city whose architect and maker is God. We should expect it to be beyond our comprehension."

And we know He then exceeds our every expectation.

Hebrews 11:10 was written in response to Abraham living as a sojourner on earth, "for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

Abraham was written into God's Holy word as a man known by His great faith. Perhaps this is great faith. Facing trials and day to day knowing we are living for someone much greater. And we are all journeying home to be with Him forever.

Perhaps faith is looking to what we cannot yet see. Hoping for the day we will not only be in our Heavenly Home which was made by God. But that one day, we will be able to see the Glorious Maker + Architect Himself. Living with Him forever.

The latter part of that verse reads, “The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.”

I just love this verse. It makes my eyes swell with tears. 

The streets we will walk on in Heaven will be gold. Just think about that for a moment.

What is so valued here on earth, will be what we walk on in Heaven. 

Doesn’t that show us how the things of The Kingdom are far greater than the things of this world. It shifts our perspective to what really matters. We are called to seek first His Kingdom + all of His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. Perhaps when we do so we will see The King of that unshakable Kingdom in all things.

This is what I remember when I see my gold jewelry. The surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. Worth far more than gold. Psalm 19:10 tells us the very word of God is more to be desired than fine gold and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

But something the Lord spoke to me that I still can’t get over…

In James 1 and 1 Peter 1 we hear about the trials we face on earth. How we are to consider them pure joy because these trials refine our faith, like gold refined by fire. 

My sister once told me that a refiner would refine gold over and over until the refiner could see His reflection in the gold. 

We are refined + refined in trials so Jesus can see Himself in us. What a gift!

I love Isaiah 48:9-11, "For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another."

As I was writing this excerpt, I watched a video of a man refining gold. It was a lengthy process. And only little progress was shown each time after the fire. But there was still great progress to be shown.

If you feel as though you are walking through the refiner's fire. Or even feel lately you have just been sitting in it. Be encouraged, He is removing impurities. No matter how small the progress may seem. Or how hard it may feel. He is making you more like Him. And He is with you in it. He is the fourth man in the fire. (Daniel 3)

He does this for His own name sake. For His glory. He holds back His wrath, and instead purifies us to make us look like Him. And allow us to see Him in everything. For we know the Pure in Heart shall see God. His glory humbles me! Thank You Jesus.

Then get this. The streets in Heaven, Revelation says will be gold as pure as glass. And says that Heaven will not need a sun for the Glory of The Lord will be its light and the Son its lamp. This means the streets of Heaven will be perfectly refined so we can perfectly see God’s perfect glory reflecting off of the streets all throughout Heaven. What light that will be!

I love how theologian John F. Walvoord puts it, “The constant mention of transparency indicates that the city is designed to transmit the glory of God in the form of light without hindrance.”

Without hindrance. Nothing will be able to hinder His glory in full. We will no longer see His glory in the dim lights of earthly glories. No longer in part. No longer passing by. But in the face of Glory Himself. Forever.

How beautiful Heaven will be! Yet God Himself will be there. And I can’t even begin to find the words to start talking about the beauty He is. And just how glorious that day will be. For all of eternity. I cry!

For the streets to be gold, and gold to compare to our faith. For us to here and now walk by faith and not by sight...

God spoke to me, “Here on earth, we walk by faith, not by sight. But one day we will walk on our faith, by sight. And we will see Him, and we will be like Him! What a glorious day that will be.”

Turn our eyes Jesus from worthless things, and set them upon you, Our Glorious + Matchless King. Fix our eyes on what is unseen. Fasten our eyes onto the surpassing worth of knowing you. The assurance + confidence of what we cannot yet see. You Jesus. Faith in You. May it grow stronger as the road we walk grows more and more narrow. Knowing that road will lead to the road we will one day walk. Of gold as pure as glass, lighting the way. Shining Your glory as we look only at You, Jesus. I just can’t wait to be with You God. I just want to see Your face.

I pray these sweet Truths the Lord reminds me of each time I wear my pearls + gold, are Truths you carry with you too. That they point you to Him each moment, and grow in you the desire to seek Him more. 

Don’t you just love Him?! I sure do. And I’m so thankful for reminders of His love, truth, and glory - because don’t we need them every day?

The "Crazy About You" ring is to encourage you to consider the sun, the moon, the stars which He has set in place. So you will know and believe He truly cares about you. But I pray with every glance, He compels your heart to hope for the day when we will no longer need a sun or moon or stars to show us God cares for us. For in Heaven there will be no need for a sun or moon. Because The Glory of God and the gift He has given us to be able to dwell with Him in His glory forever will prove He not only cares for us, but that He loves us beyond what we could ever comprehend.

That glorious day we will get to look into His eyes of fire and know its true - He is Crazy About You.

Our life on this earth is our only opportunity to choose to worship God when it is not natural to. Because when we are in the fullness of His presence, we truly will never be able to look away. He is that beautiful. That glorious. That captivating. Our only response will be to fall on our faces in adoration of The King of Kings. Our rightful place. What we were created for, yet are unworthy of. A privilege and a gift. Thank You Jesus! We are crazy about You!

Lord God, may You grant us the grace to learn this posture now. On our knees before You. All eyes on only You. Beholding You forever. Face to face even now. So we can capture just a glimpse of Your fullness here. And joyfully carry the same posture forever into eternity with You. Amen!