In Search of Diamonds: Discovering the Perfect Relationships

By Maggie McClen

Do we ever find the treasures we seek in life?

Maggie began her search very early and was beginning to think that she would never find what she was looking for. Then just when she was ready to settle for less, she saw something that gave her hope beyond measure. Something that she realized was not just for her but for anyone that wanted to take advantage of this very thing.

They say that diamonds are a girls best friend, Maggie found that there is this fake substance that has become something that people will settle for called cubic zirconium. It looks like a diamond but it cost a whole lot less, it is much easier to come by and it is difficult to tell just by looking at it if it is a real diamond or a fake.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Matt. 13:44 NIV

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 5, 2007
• ISBN: 9781467858991

Maggie McClen

              Maggie grew up in the South with her parents and many siblings.  She has been blessed with a wonderful husband and two awesome children and two beautiful grandchildren.             God has given her a tremendous love for teenagers and the privilege of encouraging them through substitute teaching and as being a guest speaker to hundreds of teenagers at local schools throughout the area in which she lives.             She has traveled throughout the country allowing God to use her gifts of encouragement and evangelism to hurting people in all areas of life.  Her opportunities have been awesome.  Maggie’s heart for God’s love to the nations runs deep.  Knowing what God has done for her, she can’t wait to bless others with that same love.  Nothing gives her more satisfaction than to see others receive God’s greatest blessings including the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.             Since the completion of her first book, which she hopes will encourage and give hope to many; Maggie has taken on a massive project called “disasterprayer.com”, a state wide prayer chain.  There will be thousands of people all over praying in unison.  God gave her a vision for the people who have been affected by the horrible natural disasters that have been poured out on our country.  Between hurricanes, floods, fires, mud slides, tornados and the likes, our small world has been stricken with people that have been left without much or with nothing at all.  The purpose of this prayer chain is to ask God’s blessing and to encourage and give hope to these people.  The prayer chain is still in the organizing stage but is moving ahead by God’s direction.                   

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Where are the Diamonds

In our life, we come across relationships that either make us or break us. The ones that break us are usually the ones we run from. We don’t want to have anything to do with them. They make us feel uncomfortable and we don’t agree with them. They are a pain in our sides and they take away our joy, our feeling of worth and we usually don’t understand why they ended up in our lives.

I have come to understand that in every person we meet, they are here for a reason. Our creator knows us backwards and forwards. He uses these people to refine us, to chip away at all the faults that we have, so that we eventually will become like a brilliant diamond to those we love. These people are actually diamonds in the rough. We can’t see what they really are and if we run away from them, push them away from us, we will miss what God wants to accomplish in us through them. When that happens, God will eventually send someone else. It is like going around the same mountain until we find the right path.

Those relationships that make us, the ones we enjoy, we most often take for granted. There is this famous quote that needs to be examined, we always hurt the ones we love the most. Why is that? That is not what God created us for. These are the ones we should be cherishing the most. The marriage success rate is at 50%. That is half of all marriages end in divorce. Divorce destroys the entire family, all because we hurt the ones we love the most. These relationships are precious diamonds and we treat them like they are cubic zirconias. We treat them like they are not worth anything. God sacrificed His only Son so that we could have access to Him. That tells me that I am so special and that I am worth more than the cost of a perfect diamond.

I was created to love and to be loved with the unconditional love of God. That means I need to sacrifice what ever it takes to keep, to protect, to put first those that God has so richly blessed me with. I need to take care of them, just as I would a huge beautiful perfect diamond. In the chapters of this book, you will find how to take the good and protect it and how to be healed of the bad.

If you read this book and follow my lead, you will find your treasure!

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Matt. 13:44 NIV

Chapter One

The Early Years

In the early hours of Christmas 1950, my parents had no idea what changes in their lives were about to take. Family life had been very hard for both my parent’s, my father came from the back hills of Kentucky from an Irish family that only knew of back woods life where living day to day was all that could be thought of. My mother, Irish decent as well, came from an Ohio family that knew God in their own personal way. My grandmother attended church regularly while my grandfather knew in his heart that God existed, but never spoke much about his faith. Both families struggled financially, working every day just to place food on the table and roofs over their family’s heads.

I don’t remember much about either family. My parents moved to Florida when I was 5 years old. This left little influence from either set of grandparents, so I thought. Life has a way of following down through the years, even when we are unaware of the influences from prior generations. There is a fact of life that goes beyond our own thinking.

I remember my childhood all too well. My father had been either drinking, or was affected by some type of drug most of the time. In the beginning, my father was very handsome, not very tall, but had a strong healthy body. After many years of abusive behavior he died at the