Transformation

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you its going to be a butterfly.

I saw the above statement in a video the other day and it really struck me. So true. Who would think a hairy little scooting worm had such a beautiful future ahead? That it would be delicate and beautiful and spend its days fluttering about through the air?

It made me think of another saying I heard years ago that has also stuck with me. That life is like a tapestry. From heaven you can see its beautiful perfection, but right now we are seeing the underside of it. Sometimes its not very pretty, and it often does not make sense to us or seem fair. But it is all working together to make the other side of it perfect and beautiful.

If we trust God through our hardships and do not become embittered, they will make us stronger.

I was blessed to hear a woman speak over the winter about how God is using the bad in her life for good. She had a horrendous childhood. She was abandoned and then sexually abused and impregnated by her foster parent. Her childhood was basically a nightmare, but she now is actually grateful for it.

Grateful? Sounds crazy right? But now this woman's life is devoted to working with women in prison who were sexually abused in the past. She has such passion and compassion for them. Her aim is to comfort them and show them God so they can be healed of the damage done to them. Imagine all the lives and hearts she touches and changes. Can you imagine the fulfillment of having such a God-given purpose?

I look at some of the harder things in my life and can honestly thank God for them now because they produced good in me and made me who I am.

I battled depression a lot of my life, which totally sucked, but I believe it made me a much more compassionate person. I know what it feels like to hurt inside, and I want to help other people hurt less.

And I am sooo thankful for my mind beginning to break down a handful of years ago now. It is what left me with nowhere to turn but to Him. It brought me to my knees and caused me to seek Him as more than a far-off idea or a box to check off on Sunday. And he heard my prayer and put my heart and mind in a beautiful place. And God has not only blessed me so greatly since, but he uses me to bless other people all the time.

Some days I can still be pretttty ugly, but overall God changed me from a little hairy worm just trying to scoot by in the world, to a colorful little butterfly that has the joy of fluttering around with the wind beneath it's wings. And I didn't even see it coming!

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!