Delois Carpenter
Executive Director - House of Pearls

Being called an oyster didn't set well with me at first! My Pastor, Trent McLaughlin was the first to refer to me in that manner and I remember flinching! Thinking "what did he just say"? But then I started hearing the reason... what comes from an oyster? Pearls!! How does this happen? I started looking up information about an oyster, here is what I found:
1. An oyster is tightly closed, protecting itself.
2. An oyster has a hard shell but is soft inside. 
3. Although small, an oyster is a very tough creature.

Interestingly, that sounds a lot like me! . Life has a way of doing that to you. You become harder, protective, tough. But then you meet a man named Jesus and He changes you on the inside. There is a softness, a caring spirit that didn't use to be there. 
 
“Oysters make pearls in response to an irritant, such as a grain of sand. When any irritant makes its way between the mollusk's shell and mantle, the creature produces nacre, a protective coating that helps reduce irritation. The oyster's natural reaction is to cover up that irritant to protect itself. This eventually forms a pearl.”
 

"The irritants, the stinging -- without them the oyster would not make the pearl, the thing of beauty, the object of great worth."

If you have been around our Pearls any amount of time, you will begin to love them. When they come to us, they are irritated from many things. If they stick around you will begin to see these women heal from past hurts, brokenness, pain, & anger. God begins doing a might work in them. As Pastor Trent says: What He allows to happen TO you, He will do THROUGH you to help others.

That is exactly what He did through me. He took a broken girl, from a broken home of addiction. Gave her a family, and allowed addiction to even touch the life of her child, just so He could mold her, help her learn to forgive in order to help other women learn about the love of Jesus Christ and His healing power.

And He will do that through YOU as well. To every Pearl that has come through our 1 year program, He isn't finished with you. Let him use your story, to help others, for His Glory! 

I now love my nickname "Oyster". I'm honored God saw fit to include me in His redemptive work at House of Pearls. 

God bless!
 

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