The Alchemy of Grace: Turning Heavy Stones into Heavenly Jewels

I can’t remember a time when I didn't love rocks. My siblings and I had an extensive rock collection filled with all of our finest earthen treasures. The most prized received an honorary place on the bookshelves and dressers of our home, much to my parents’ perpetual dismay. In my childhood imagination, the most unremarkable-looking rock seemed to be a priceless gemstone. Imagine my delight when I later learned in science class that when put under immense pressure and heat, rocks truly do have the capacity to change and transform from plain pebbles to extraordinary jewels. Just like ordinary, everyday stones, when faced with immense trials and challenges, we too have the capacity to change and transform from unexceptional and unextraordinary beings to refined and shining children of God. And yet, the process by which we must undergo this transformational change is anything but easy or quick. Under immense pressure and with even more patience, even the dullest piece of coal turns into a sparkling diamond. Have you ever felt like you were under “immense pressure?” Whether that’s because of school or work, conflict at home, financial hardship, unpredictable natural disasters, illness or injury, or even death, as mortal beings living in a fallen world, we will inevitably encounter trials of one kind or another throughout our time here on earth. Unfortunately, the hardships we are faced with are less like my beloved rocks; they often pass like a kidney stone - slowly and painfully. It is in these situations that we are asked by our Savior to be patient and to trust in His goodness and His character. We are to remember His words of comfort, reminding us of the end goal of our Heavenly Father’s fabulous plan: “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones” (Isaiah 54:11-12). C.S. Lewis shared a parable that I love. “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” If we allow Him to do His miraculous, transformational work in our lives, our loving Heavenly Father will indeed “lay [our] stones with fair colors…[our] windows with agates, and [our] gates with carbuncles, and all [our] borders with pleasant stones.” The truth is, alone, we are unable to bear the burdens that have been, are currently, and will be placed on our shoulders. It is only through the enabling grace of our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement that we are strengthened to withstand the afflictions, tempests, heartbreaks, and pressures needed to transform and refine our characters into the glittering gemstones and bejeweled palaces that Heavenly Father sees we can become. Elder Gary B. Sabin, a leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “Our Savior will polish and refine us through the merits of His atoning sacrifice and has said of those who willingly follow Him, ‘They shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.’” It is reassuring to know that our elder brother not only sees our sufferings but understands them and–like the master alchemist that He is–will work all things together for our good. Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 teaches, “I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time.” As we exercise our faith in the Redeemer of the world and the fabulous plan of our eternally loving Father in Heaven, we find strength and hope to allow tribulations to work within us to bring beauty and refinement into our imperfect mortal lives. And eventually, over lots of time and through lots of patience, Jesus Christ will help us become the crown jewels of our Heavenly King. As Isaiah beautifully prophesied, “Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God” (Isaiah 62:3).

Avery Palenske recently returned to Brigham Young University after her 18-month-long experience as a missionary in Singapore and Malaysia. Between hunting for the coziest study spots on campus, learning how to cook on a budget, and battling through her physics class, she makes sure to always find time to thank God for the matchless gift of His Divine Son, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.