“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound … to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” – Isaiah 61:1, 3b, KJV, emphasis mine.
My wife loves collecting caterpillars with our munchkin. She puts them in the bug cage, and if the Munchkin does not kill the caterpillar from over-handling as she is rather excited about the caterpillar, it eventually climes to the top and makes a chrysalis. The chrysalis is green for a while until it starts to turn color. Then it turns pitch black and looks like you see in the picture above just before a Monarch butterfly emerges.
I don’t know where you are in your story.
Maybe life is murky green like that chrysalis in the early stage of transformation.
Maybe everything is pitch black and bleak.
Don’t give up.
God delights in turning hopeless looking stories into beautiful things. He is one who can take an ugly black chrysalis and have it produce a glorious Monarch Butterfly.
Take heart from nature.
Who knows what beautiful thing God is doing in you during this dark time.
I-for one–am glad I did not give up when it was so bleak and hopeless for me. God was just beginning to prepare me for glory!
Look to the butterfly and do not give in to the darkest of times as your glory, too, may just be around the corner.
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