One day when I was in my 20s, my mother took my sister and I into her bedroom, got out her jewellery box and showed us some antique rings. They belonged to my granny and great aunt and she wanted to pass them on to us. One ring struck me. It had three diamonds in a row, the central one being bigger than the others. I chose that one but later handed it back to mum for safe keeping, saying I would keep it until I got engaged.

A few years later I did get engaged, and remembered the ring sitting in my mother’s jewellery box. So the evening my husband proposed to me I went upstairs and retrieved it and put it on. It was as beautiful as I had remembered it. I was so excited to at last have a reason to wear it. It has rarely left my finger in our 14 years of marriage.

However there was one disappointment. As I admired the ring and looked closely at the diamonds I noticed one of them was flawed. It had a noticeable crack in it. I was so disappointed, it really took away some of the excitement of getting engaged. It also seemed to reflect, in some way, how I felt about myself and my life. My life was less than perfect and full of many disappointments. We considered having the diamond replaced but couldn’t really afford it so I accepted second best. But whenever I looked at my ring that flaw was always visible to me.

This summer we celebrated our 14th anniversary. The following Sunday I was in church worshipping and as I looked up I noticed that a diamond from my ring had fallen out. I was devastated. It came at a time when we had cash flow problems and again could not afford to replace it. I cried my eyes out. Then I decided it didn’t really matter whether I wore an engagement ring or not. And it wasn’t even the flawed diamond that had fallen out. Typical!

The following week it came to my attention a friend of mine was going to South Africa for a month and she knew a jeweller who could fix it at a reasonable price. I had been mulling over what to do and missed the ring on my finger, so I asked her to take it to her friend to see if it was worth replacing. I also decided, now this opportunity had arisen, to also replace the damaged diamond.

Well, I can hardly contain my excitement as she returned from South Africa today with my ring. I was told that the name of my ring is ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ which seems very apt for the three diamonds. But I call it my ‘Yesterday Today and Forever’ ring. It has become all the more meaningful to me given its significant name.

What is more, after months of everything crashing down around me, all my dreams and hopes in shatters - in the midst of this storm God has done something very significant, because I now have a complete engagement ring, perfect and beautiful in every way. It is a picture of God’s redeeming work in our lives. In itself the ring is unimportant, but in God’s kingdom it is a picture of something bigger and greater.

My life is not as broken as it was when I got engaged. God has done a great work bringing healing and wholeness to me and he’s not finished with me yet. But now when I look at this ring I will always remember God’s hand in my life and that flaws can be removed and replaced with something more beautiful. My most precious possession has been returned complete, more beautiful and meaningful than ever.