Pearl in the Sand Quotes

“We long for things that harm us and run from the things that grow and heal us. We think good is bad and bad is good.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“I mean that the reason God seems to act in ways that make no sense to us is that our perceptions are wrong. Our expectations are subtly twisted. We long for things that harm us and run from the things that grow and heal us. We think good is bad and bad is good. God acts rightly, but to us, it seems confusing. Or sometimes plain wrong.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“A woman needs to feel safe in love. She needs to know her husband accepts everything about her and still loves her. To be known through and through, including the failures of her past, the shortcomings of her character, and still be loved, that's the Promised Land of a woman's heart! That's where she finds rest.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“It's time to leave fear behind or you'll be robbed of your destiny. You don't need confidence in yourselves or in your own power. Be strong in the Lord. When disaster seems close, don't be discouraged. God will never leave you.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“Sin is like that. Whether you know what you're doing or not, there is damage. There are consequences. The holiness of the Lord requires justice for these consequences. It demands a covering for them. At the same time. He is merciful with our mistakes. So he Himself gives us that covering by providing us with the sacrifice.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“Then it dawned on Joshua that God was not on Israel's side. He beckoned Israel to be on His side. Joshua couldn't claim God for himself or for his own interests the way the people around them used their idols. Rather the Lord claimed Joshua and His chosen people for Himself.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“I would rather obey the Lord without understanding than follow my own limited knowledge. “Perhaps”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand

“Human wisdom won’t win us these battles. It will be God alone,”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand

“That was the day Rehab promised herself she would never bow her head to such gods. She hated them. For all their glittering attraction, she had seen them for what they were. They were consumers of humanity.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“He wiped out Jericho, and He saved a harlot. What kind of God was this? He seemed at once impossibly holy and ridiculously merciful. How could you tie those two incongruities together? Rahab”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand

“Rahab, don't you know that when God requires the blood of sacrifices to cover the uncleanness and rebellion of the people of Israel, He is thinking of me as much as of you? God's standards measure my heart, not any illusion of righteousness I might contrive to achieve with my actions. And before those standards I fail every day.... I compare myself to the holy standard God sets for us. Your problem is that you compare yourself to me, and conclude yourself a great failure. But your standards are skewed. In a way, each of us is a ruin before God. The wonder is the lengths He goes to in order to save us both from our ruination.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“It’s time to leave fear behind or you’ll be robbed of your destiny. You don’t need confidence in yourselves or in your own power. Be strong in the Lord. When disaster seems close, don’t be discouraged. God will never leave you.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand

“Nothing teaches gratitude like losing everything”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand

“These simple words reveal Rahab’s amazing destiny: Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab (Matthew 1:5). In other words, Salmone and Rahab were married and had a son. The Bible gives us a glimpse into Salmone’s background through several genealogies (1 Chronicles 2:11; Ruth 4:20–21). Clearly, he comes from a highly distinguished family in the house of Judah; his father Nahshon is the leader of the people of Judah, and his father’s sister is wife to Aaron (Numbers 2:3–4). Of Salmone’s own specific accomplishments and activities nothing is known. But the verse in Matthew is still shocking. How could a man who is practically a Jewish aristocrat, significant enough to get his name recorded in the Scriptures, marry a Canaanite woman who has earned her living entertaining gentlemen? Much of this novel deals with that question. Needless to say, this aspect of the story is purely fictional. We only know that Salmone married Rahab and had a son by her, and that Jesus Himself counts this Canaanite harlot as one of His ancestors. On how such a marriage came about or what obstacles it faced, the Bible is silent.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand

“I think you have forgotten, my young friend, that the blood of the spotless lambs on Passover cover your own sins, too.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“Rahab was amazed that she had slept soundly through the night. Not for months had she known slumber so uninterrupted. The words of her prayer to the god of the Hebrews suddenly rose to the forefront of her mind. An unseen god. A god with no form or image. A god no one could touch. The god of her enemies. And yet on this early morning she sensed a peace beyond anything she had known these many years. Was this the doing of the unseen god? Or was she losing her mind? Would her mother be saddened or cheered to know about her madness? What was worse—having a mad woman, or a harlot for a daughter?”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“To be known through and through, including the failures of her past, the shortcomings of her character, and still be loved, that's the Promised Land of a woman's heart.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“He did not have the ultimate responsibility for this impossible task.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“Then it dawned on Joshua that God was not on Israel’s side; rather, He beckoned Israel to be on His side. Joshua couldn’t claim God for himself or for his own interests the way the people of Canaan used their idols. The Lord had claimed Israel as His own possession. It was up to Israel to align itself with God’s will.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“Stripped of every illusion of control, Salmone experienced a new sense of freedom, for comprehending that God alone must be the source of his strength liberated him from the burden of false responsibility”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“He wants a world without murder, adultery, and thieving. Without lying and jealousy. Without bribes and oppression. He even forbids the murder of slaves and the abuse of foreigners who live among his people. Imagine that! Imagine living in such a world!”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“As I crossed Ponte Vecchio, I wondered what it was like to live in a wall. Then I realized that we all know a little something about that. Most of us have to contend with walls in the interior places of our souls. Walls built on foundations of fear, rejection, loss, pride; walls that keep others at bay and shield us from drawing close enough to get hurt again. Now I was hooked. I wanted to write about walls, about living in them, about pulling them down. I wanted to write about Rahab.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl in the Sand

“lower lip in an effort not to smile. “I suppose we are incapable of truly learning to trust God without paying a cost. To see these waters part, we must be willing to step into them.”
― Tessa Afshar, Pearl In The Sand