Magnificant Metamorphosis

Butterflies are beautiful creatures. I recently visited the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, Florida allowing me the opportunity to see many different species of butterflies up close and personal.

 

Consider the process a butterfly endures to reach the beautiful stage.  They all began as some sort of wormy thing (caterpillar).  Then there is the cocoon stage (pupae), which eventually produces the beautiful thing.  The butterfly. 

 

Before we were children of God, we were the ugly wormy thing, ugly with sin.  Then there was the process of being redeemed through Jesus Christ, which begins the change in us from the inside out.  Just like the cocoon stage.  As we mature in Christ, the butterfly appears, the disciple after God's own heart.  A new creature in Him.

 

 

Listen to the podcast on this topic by following this link:  Butterfly: Episode #3

 

The show airs live every Sunday at 6pm.  Follow us at www.blogtalkradio.com/asister2sisterministry

 

Where are your prints?

God is miraculous and marvelous.  He created each of us with a unique set of fingerprints.  No two people have the same fingerprints.  Even identical twins, have different fingerprints while sharing similar DNA markers.  Think about this a minute.  How many people are alive right now on the planet? No two fingerprints are alike.  How many people have already lived and are no longer here on earth?  No two fingerprints are alike.  Consider that...GOD IS SO AWESOME!  It's God's very own trademark on each individual human being.  GOD IS SO AWESOME!

So where do you leave your fingerprints?  When God begins to process your life for your prints, where will He find them?

 

For those of you who do not know me, I am in the Criminal Justice field.  Therefore, I work with, look for and deal with fingerprints on a regular basis.  Evidence.  Fingerprint "evidence" discovered at a location confirms the presence of an individual.  Where would God find your prints right now if he were to conduct a "crime-scene-investigation" on your life?  Would they be on the choir stand pew?  How about the broom handle in the church closet?  Or the Nursery door?  What about on the telephone?  from calling a sick and shut in or from gossiping with a friend?  Would they be on the door of a night club? Or perhaps a magazine of questionable content?  Would they be found on your bible?

Take a few minutes right now and analyze your life.  Think about today, even moments before reading this blog.  What have you done to help someone else or  to allow someone to see Jesus in you?  Where will your prints be found?

Our fingerprints don't fade from the lives we've touched.  What type of touches have they been?  Good?  Bad?  What impression are you making in this world today?

Where will He find YOUR prints?

It's All Good

Daily we are tested in every area of our lives.  Romans 8:28 says "And we know that ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." KJV (Emphasis mine)  It is hard to believe, but ALL things, not just SOME things work together for our good.  ALL things!  We must trust God.  It's all good!

I know that many times, I have questioned the happenings in my life and their relativity to my "good".  I think it's human nature for us to question things.  But as followers of Christ, we are different.  We are children of the most high.  We are in the world and not of the world.  Therefore, things are different for us than those who have not yet chosen the same path. 

At the age of 10 or 11, my sisters and I were helping mom do some cleaning in the yard.  We were picking up pine cones and limbs and other debris from the yard.  We had a small fire in a hole at the back of the property where we were burning the trash.  My sisters and I, as we filled the wheelbarrow with trash would go to the back of the property and dump the new load onto the fire.  Well, on this particular trip, my middle sister and I were tending the fire and raking things up onto the fire.  I heard a hissing sound coming from inside the fire as I continued to rake things up into the flames.  Then, BAM! or BOOM! or something, I don't particularly recall which.  There was an explosion that encapsulated me and my sister, who was standing behind me at that moment.  We ran to the front yard yelling and screaming for mom.  A can of PVC pipe glue had gotten thrown away with the yard debris and had exploded under the pressure of the heat from the fire.  I was wearing cut-off jean shorts and a tank top.  I caught the brunt of the blast, suffering burns on my face, arms and legs.  My sister also was burned on her face, arms and legs although not as severely.  I was sent to the Shriner's Burn Institute in Galveston, Texas for treatment after my sister and I had received initial care at the local hospital.  I am alive and well and virtually scar-free.  Thanks to my God.  There was a lot of pain involved in the recovery.  Skin debridement, bandage changes and whirlpool baths became something I loathed.  I can say that through all of that, I know that it all worked together for my good.  I know that I can say without a doubt that my God is a healer!  I know that I can say without a doubt that my God works miracles! AMEN!

You may be in a valley today, or a trial tomorrow, God knows.  He will be there with you in it and through it.  Sometimes we may not feel Him or hear from Him, but He is there.  We must trust Him and know that ALL things are working together for our good.