Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: August 31

"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18

I [Eugenia Price, the author] have kept this "purple stone" verse until the last because it has lighted up my part in redeeming the sufferings of my life. My part is to look at Christ in them.

As I suffer or as I enjoy myself, I am to do both "with open face beholding ... the glory of the Lord."  Only then can I be changed "from glory to glory" back into His image. Only then can I find willingness to lay my broken heart up against His broken heart to be healed.

Look what happened to Stephen and be made willing to do as Stephen did in the midst of his torment and suffering! "... he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God ... And when they stoned Stephen calling upon God ... [Stephen, who] kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."

Stephen kept looking at Jesus in his hour of trial. Gloriously, he proved that we can be "changed into the same image from glory to glory, " because even as they stoned him to death, Stephen took on the image of the One who had also cried: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

A disciple named Stephen, outstanding for no other reason, kept looking at Jesus and as he was murdered, he didn't fall to the ground screaming in self-pity and anguish, "... he kneeled down, and cried in a loud voice [as his Master had cried], Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." When we keep our eyes on Jesus, we are given peace and rest in the midst of our suffering.

"When [Stephen] had said this, he fell asleep. He giveth his beloved sleep ... I will give you rest."

*Note: Tomorrow we begin to share our "green stone" verses.  Emerald, because emerald is the most precious. To bring a high price, the other stones must be flawless. But the true emerald's value depends upoon its size and particularly upon its color.  All of our "green stone" verses are as big as God is. And so we have chosen them, as one chooses emeralds for their size and their "color." Emerald green has always been to me [Eugenia Price, the author] a "singing color." Once I sat in the office of the art professor at the first college I attended and saw printed in large, ornate letters on the wall: "Green Sings!"

It does and so do our "green stones."