The beach storm was fierce. Angry black clouds pelted watery swords toward the roaring waves that reached up with foamy fists. Sea oats and tall beach grass strained to keep the sand dunes in place. But within thirty minutes of the war of wind and waves, the sun came from the east, chased the irate clouds out to sea, and told the ocean to settle down.
I’ve learned the best time to hunt for treasure at the beach is after a storm. So, I grabbed my orange bucket and headed to the shore to see what I could find.
I was looking for unbroken shells, but often whole is hard to find. Broken pieces carpeted the sand and shimmered like confetti.
Finally, a conch stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t something you’d find on a gift shop shelf or a souvenir counter. Its entire outside had been worn away by years of struggle. What remained was a smooth pink conical inside—a masterpiece previously hidden by the hard exterior.
I picked it up. I thought of me. I thought of you.
Jesus warned us, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NLT). We can count on raucous storms in this life. It’s a promise. But what we do after the storm has passed can make the biggest difference in how we view those squalls of trouble.
We can stay stuck in the memory of trauma or search for treasures in the aftermath of trials.
Paul wrote: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away (can I get an amen) yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV emphasis added).
How do we uncover the post-trial treasures? It begins with questions such as:
What did I learn about God from this situation?
What did I learn about myself?
How did God provide?
How was my faith strengthened?
How did the struggle draw me closer to God?
One of the treasure’s many have discovered after an emotional storm is the wearing away of the hard exterior to reveal the beauty within. The bantering of the salty sea of trials reveals a beauty that can only be seen through struggles. The inner beauty of the old conch was a hidden masterpiece, until the tossing, turning, and churning removed the outer layer to reveal what was hidden inside. I think it’s the same for you and me. Broken reveals beauty…when we take the time to look for it.
So, search the shoreline of your story. Ask God to open your eyes to the treasures hidden in the very storms you thought would destroy you. The beauty forming within you may be a masterpiece only hardship could reveal.
God, I don’t like going through the storms of life. However, I know that some lessons can only be learned through trial and trouble. Open my eyes to see the treasures, my ears to hear the lessons, my heart to embrace the inner beauty being formed as I draw closer to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What is one treasure you’ve discovered through a storm you’ve weathered? Click on comment and let’s share.
Digging Deeper
If you are having trouble answering the question above, I want to help. That’s why I wrote, When You Don’t Like Your Story: What if Your Worst Chapters Could Become Your Greatest Victories. Let me help you find those treasures. They might be easier to spot than you think.
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The inner strength that I’ve found hidden underneath my fear.
Things are not in our timing but God”s.
Total reliance on God🙌
How do I find beauty in the death of my son? I prayed for years firming believing for the Lord to heal my son from drug addiction. I constantly reminded myself of Abraham and Sara. I claimed the waiting was a test of my faith, and the Lord would answer my prayer in His time. My son is dead.
Luke 22:42
“Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Matthew 6:33
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Not want)
Sometimes we get angry because we forget or refuse to recognize that the gift we lost never belonged to us. Job, ancient and wise, is a famous example of someone who knew that God is a good gift-Giver. He lost everything, and his analysis of his loss is that the One who gives the gift always has the right to take it away ( Job 1:21). If we allow the pain of our grief to eclipse our vision of the good gift giver, we risk a spiritual disaster. King David reminds us that belief and confession of the Lord’s goodness is the antidote to despair: “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living” (Ps 27:13, NASB, emphasis mine). Credit: Michael Ward.
Yes! This is beautiful! Thank you for sharing! So good! 🙏🏼
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That is a good word.
Powerful reminder. Thank you
Marlene, I hear you. My 19 year old daughter was killed on a motorcycle just over a year ago. When I read this email, I felt opposite. My “shell” may have beauty on the outside and hard, broken, ugliness on the inside. Broken has not revealed beauty. Our worst fear came true…
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Jen, I can’t imagine losing my only son. That would be the worst. Take the time to grieve.
Marlene,
Sitting with you in grief and praying for God’s comfort for your shattered heart.
Marlene, my heart breaks for you and I understand the pain you are feeling. I lost my son to suicide three years ago. Like you, I prayed for years that the Lord heal him, I was angry and broken hearted when he didn’t answer my prayer. A dear friend who lost her son to an overdose shared something that has help me reframe my thoughts. “The Lord has healed our son’s, just not the way we asked or wanted. They are fully healed, in the arms of Jesus, being fully known and fully loved.” They are no longer struggling with their pain and addictions and that is what we prayed for. I pray you are comforted knowing your son is at peace with the Lord.
Rev 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Marlene, I can’t imagine the sadness you are experiencing. My heart goes out to you. I am praying for you. That you’ll be able to find peace and even one day see something beautiful come out of this storm that is swirling around you right now.
Marlene, Marlene, Beautiful Marlene I am presently giving You the biggest hug ever and whispering its ok, its ok to scream, cry out, throw things, talk to your heavenly Dad whose arm is open and is ready and waiting for you to let it all out. He created You and your son and knew this day was coming. Don’t hold back whatever is on your heart share it with him Just You and him. The Holy spirit is there and will speak because as God’s daughter You know without a doubt that You are Loved and You know how to Love because of our Dad and You will hear a song that will remind You of your Father’s love. He knows better then us He knows the way.!
The beauty of resilience, knowing that no matter the storm, GOD has held me up, never to fall but, to feel the POWER of his presence.
Thank you! I have been going thru a devastating trial and feel like a broken reed. BUT GOD has provided a great Christian counselor and I’m healing. Through it all my faith has been tried and tossed and there have been so many unanswered questions. I am learning to look for beauty in the brokenness. What j have found is God reshaping my faith into a deeper, richer relationship with Him.
Thank you for your stories, books and lessons… After a really hard season of having to leave 31 years of what I now realize was a very abusive relationship, I have found such peace in drawing closer to God. I relied on His truths, His teachings and the work/growth He did in me with the help of your books.
I knew one day I would be through that terrible season in order to be strong enough to help others. I knew God could make beauty out of ashes and I stood firm on that…
Thank you for being faithful to your calling even when it was hard. Thank you for sharing the struggles to give courage for others who are struggling. You helped pave the way for me and many others to pass the baton in the name of Jesus and the amazing things He can do. ♥️
Thank you for this morning devotional. It has reminded me why self compassion is necessary.
The faithfulness of God to draw me close even as my husband pulled away (moved out) because his secret keeping life was exposed. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5
The storm still rages but I am sheltered!
Everyday I awaken and it’s a new day. His mercies are new every morning and great is his faithfulness. I’ve weathered storms; I’m still here standing, going forward. A testament to his unfailing love
He is always there. He always provides. I just need to trust and pray and look for Him.
I am learning that Christ is my solid rock. All other ground is sinking sand. I don’t know if this is just a song, or a verse.
It’s a song and scripture verse.
One treasure I discovered through a storm I weathered is the power and strength of mustard seed-sized faith:
-Matthew 17:20. 🙏🏾✝️
The treasure I have found in my trials,
is that Jesus has been right there with me to give strength and comfort and hope that I can continue to press on!
Thank you Jesus!
Learning to find the strength to live on my own for the first time in my life,Learning to find the strength in grief and now Learning to look after me
I am now struggling with a broken wrist. God is good; He is in control.
The Journal I received from my oldest daughter on my 50th birthday. I have been filling it up for almost 8 years now about beautiful days in my life. It has taken time to find content, but I have reached the end and now I’ve turned it upside down and I’m filling in any empty spaces.
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That is so cool!
Each day recognizing how much God loves me is Beauty in itself.
Marlene, I am so sorry for your loss. It doesn’t seem right to lose a child. And not understanding why God didn’t answer your prayers the way you wanted is so difficult. I believe the ‘beauty’ that you seek will be found in you. I hope you are part of a small group of believers at your church who will walk with you and hold you up. I pray that you will not fall into bitterness towards God, but that His love and comfort will build in you such a strong faith and peace that others will be amazed by your beauty. I will be praying for you, Marlene, as you traverse these difficult days ahead. ❤️
We don’t live near a seashore here in New Mexico, but the devastation of a wildfire is equally destructive. Our largest wildfire in NM occurred in 2022, the Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon fire burning 534 sq miles. El Porvenir Christian Camp at the base of Hermit’s Peak was affected a lot. The first time I drove there after the fire, the devastation was all I saw. However, each succeeding time I’ve seen the beauty coming through; the colorful carpet beneath the burned trees is magnificent, and the newly growing trees seeded when the pinecones popped during the fire are wonderful to see.
Thank you, Sharon, for helping us to see the good in the midst of the bad.
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Beautiful!
I’ve learned that God is all I need. God allowed structures and people that I thought I needed to fall away during a trial in my life. He used the trial to get my attention and draw me to Him. I now completely depend on the Lord to sustain me and supply my every need.
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So glad you saw the beauty.
On July 4th, I was hurt at work. My shoulder ached somewhat, which limited my motions as well. Later, on December 27th, I fell and broke my knee at a different job site. I finally had surgery for my shoulder on January 23rd. I am still recovering from both the shoulder surgery and the broken knee. All the time I missed work has taught me something about the type of worker I am – that I’m aggressive and a hard worker. However, I need to learn to take it easy and slow down. There’s a blessing in disguise, though. Being disabled from normal life makes me think about what’s important. I am hungry for God’s presence, and I am all in for having Him in my life fully.
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I hear you. I broke my right hand last January. Isaiah 41:10 became an important verse for me. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”
In October my son went to prison, All through the year of waiting and through the pain of processing and watching God work in him I wondered what He was doing in me. Now I see how He is smoothing so many of my rough edges of fear and revealing that God has been developing and exposing my inner joy and love. I’d have never thought He’d use it in such a way. And He’s using my son in prison to bring others to Him. All the glory goes to Him.
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I’m so sorry your son went to prison. At the same time, it sounds like God is doing some amazing things. My friend, Carol Kent’s son is in prison for a life sentence. It is so incredible the ministry he has there, and the prison ministry that Carol and her husband have on the outside. God will use it all!
Every day I learn something new from leaning on our Lord I had to learn everything is in his time. I couldn’t understand that at first but now I do as I have seen and been blessed by his answers
I had several storms in my past; some not so bad and some was overwhelming but they helped make me strong and now when there’s a storm, I know I can pull through with God’s help.
This hard hearted woman is now seeing breath being blown into my nostrils and dry bones coming alive in spite and maybe because of bitterness and rage at the horrible things that have occurred in my life. I don’t want to be angry, afraid and in despair any longer! I want to be FREE and only He can do that.
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Yes He can!
Being able to understand other people’s pain.
I was diagnosed 2 years ago with a rare and slowly progressive motor neuron disease (FOSMN) that I first had symptoms of in 2012 and am now on tube feedings in an assisted living where I get the help I need. I received 2 “cards” several years ago from Proverbs 31 that inspire me. One says “In a season you did not expect, God is doing the unexpected”. And “Just because our story doesn’t seem good in the moment, that doesn’t mean it won’t be good in the end.” that inspire me every duay.
That God can heal broken hearts! 💔 ♥️♥️
My daughter, the closeness we now have and the faithfulness of our Lord.
Gods ways and plan is always perfect…..trust the process 🤍
I was feeling angry, betrayed and I knew I needed to vent with a close friend who could hear me and hopefully encourage me afterwards. Yet I found that because I had been fasting sugar and daily reading the scripture it helped me release this person quickly through choosing to forgive. I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me that He was producing the gift of self control as I exercised fasting and prayer.
First, I to was looking for perfect shell when God put it in my heart that He loves imperfect as much as perfect. I no longer look for perfect but beauty in all!
My spiritual life grew in the midst of an unwanted divorce. I was more focused on pleasing my husband than my Lord.
Focusing on Scripture pulled me through a horrible time!
He has taught me that he is faithful, no matter what the trial is. He’s the same God who took me through prior storms and he’ll do it again.
As we go thru storms, if that is a big word. When we hang on, God will carry us through. It’s a promise.He always has our backs, he goes before us & follows us thru all types of situations. He’s our best friend.
As we hang on, to the end.
He’ll never leave us, nor forsake us.He is a God that loves us, as we call upon him..
You are a gifted writer. Your devotions wrap me up with hope, God’s love, things to contemplate and the gift of wordsmithing you have been blessed with. Discovering your weekly devotions is the gift I am so very thankful for.
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Thank you. You are so kind!
I’ve learned more awareness of God’s presence and perspective of the unseen. Going through some of the most painful, difficult trials, when I just don’t understand. God has still been changing me and teaching me deeper things about His love. This world is not our home. I don’t think in our humanness we can really understand what awaits us on the other side of this. We just can’t. There is still beauty on earth because of Jesus, I’ve had such a habit of focusing on the bad. But the Lord has been helping me shift to seeing that there will always be good too, without Jesus it would just be darkness. Thank you for this devotion.
Completed restoration and healing will take place once we are finally home with Him. Thank Jesus He has made a way to be with us right now until then.
Amen and Amen!!!
I broke my back bowling! Emergency room, back broken, vest and rehab for 8 weeks. It was hard to be emobil. But, God let me fall so that we would find a growth on my adrenal gland, that was destined to be cancer!!! It was removed, and was not not cancerous yet! Praise God! I look back on my trial as a praise now, my back healed perfectly, But for that fall I would have for sure gotten cancer and not found it very early!!! Praise God for that fall and emergency room exray!!!!!
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Praise God they found it!!!!
I remind myself that there is peace i the eye of the storm!
I hope that it is okay for me to comment here, even though I am a guy.
To shorten a long story, I have a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder that makes me constantly think about—or think up—blasphemous thoughts about the Holy Spirit. I have prayed countless prayers for forgiveness; countless confessions of the horrible things that my brain concocts; and endless begging that the Holy Spirit doesn’t depart from me.
The fear of losing salvation, despite my acceptance of Lord Jesus Christ long ago, is a Storm from which I see no safe harbor. I wouldn’t wish my condition upon any believer, and I see no beauty or temperance in this fire. I only fear an inevitable march to judgment.
Oh, how I wish I could rest in the peace of Christ, but my mind won’t let me.
My parents divorced when I was 9; my mom remarried when I was 10. My ex-stepfather was an alcoholic who was verbally & physically abusive. At the age of 11, I had a plan to end my life because I couldn’t take it anymore, but I didn’t want to end my life. I was crying and praying on the floor next to my bed, begging God for help. I heard a loud but gentle voice in my head say, “Isaiah 41:13.” I knew I was alone so nobody could have said that. I didn’t know my Bible very well yet, so I looked it up in the table of contents. When I found it and read it, I cried the biggest happy tears I’ve ever cried in my life- “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” While our circumstances didn’t make sense at all, God blessed me with this verse, and I’m still here! Praising His name & praying to Him as long as I have breath!
God carried me through the sudden death of my husband in 2021, and again through the vigil of life to death & victory with my mom in July 2025. In both instances, I never walked alone. The Holy Spirit sustained me, my Savior walked beside me and most often carried me. God was/is my Refuge & my strength đź’–
Broken and beautiful. For the past 5 years, I have facilitated GriefShare at my church. In grief, we are all broken. And, in some ways, we stay broken. Death of a loved one is a lifelong journey in grief. What we try to do is recognize the “broken,” give it validation. Then, we guide our participants to take their brokenness to Jesus who will make their grief a “good grief.” That may seem strange, or it may seem impossible to some. Yet, through the 13 weeks of this Grief journey program, we see most participants go from hopeless to hopeful. We see them go from helpless to purposeful. We see relationships grow in Jesus and we see participants go from “me, me, me” to “service and love for others,” It is sort of like the conch shell you describe. You wear your grief, others can see your grief, others can see your pain, Yet, inside, there is this beautiful transformation. The grief will remain, in some form; yet, the grief will transform you inside into the beautiful love of Jesus, our true Comforter and Healer. Then, we will see that the transformation will reach out and give others a glimpse of that beauty that only God can give through suffering and loss. Thank you for sharing this visual of the conch shell. I think it will be something God will use to help those who are grieving to give them hope. That even though the grief is part of our life long journey, God turns that into something beautiful and full of purpose. Our purpose? To spread that beauty so all can see that hope of Jesus, and that He has a purpose for lives that are broken.
I love it when God gets in my face and tells me like it is! I am loved!
Thank for reminding me of my hardest time has been victory to strengthen me to keep on trusting.
God can put any brokeness in your life and restore back to wholeness again.
Marlene, keep your eyes on JesusHe knows how you are feeling and catching every tear from your eyes. He wants you to reach out to him like the ladies are saying it’s OK to cry. It’s OK to throw something or scream he hears you. He loves you and like that one lady said he is healed from that terrible drugs.
Hello Sharon,
Another great reminder of hope and inspiration!!!
Thank you again.
My new year devotional to self, is to find meaning in days to come!!! Thank you again, to remind us to find life beyond where we are and give it to God, he makes us whole!
I lost my husband, my best friend 523 days ago. The storm still rages with my questions unanswered. This is devastating. I’m going through the motions of living, I am struggling with the lack of joy. My faith seems shaky, even though God has performed miracles in my family. Some say that it gets better, I have difficulty understanding that, not sure how time heals this brokenness.
Garrett, I am saying a prayer for you right now. Please continue seeking the Lord in prayer for your condition and don’t give up. Some storms last longer than others but God will be with you and will see you to the other side. Don’t give up, God is with you!
Peace that makes no sense.