The Butterfly

>One day while walking through the woods, a man found a cocoon.  He decided to take the cocoon home to watch its transformation into a beautiful butterfly.  He gently placed it on his table and watched it for several days. One day a small opening appeared and the cocoon started to move.  The old man sat and watched it for several hours as it struggled and struggled to force its body from the cocoon.

 

 

Then it seemed to stop making any progress.  It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and was unable to go any farther.  Finally, the old man feeling sorry for the cocooned butterfly, decided to help the butterfly.  He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.  The butterfly then easily emerged.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.  The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened!  In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.  It never was able to fly.

 

 

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.  If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would only cripple us.   We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

And we could never fly.

~ Author Unknown ~

This Too Shall Pass

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be ...


If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me ...


If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that "this will pass away, too!" ...


Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all the chains
That are binding me tight in "the darkness"
And trying to fill me with fear ...
For there is "no night without dawning"
And I know that "my morning" is near.

~ Helen Steiner Rice ~

I Never Dreamed.....

I Never Dreamed



I never dreamed that doing what God said do

would cause so much pain in my life

Friends stopped being friends and even some family members never seem to understand

I never dreamed that discrimination would be my flight

that I would have more lonely days and even fights

Yes, fights, because it's always a battle to stand for what's right

I never dreamed that doing what God said to do would create such confusion

Yes, confusion, because the very people that say they love you and

use to come, ask and accept your advice as friends

are the very ones now not receptive of you in your new position as were back then

I never dreamed that I would have to walk this walk alone

but then again I never Dreamed this at all

But I know now that no matter what

I was chosen to do this and for that I shall stand tall

and while I never dreamed

I'll never stop dreaming of how lives will be touched,

changed in a instant all because I never dreamed

You see I never dreamed that it would make such a difference

giving hope, encouragement that I never dreamed possible

that the unsaved would become saved

that the lost would be saved

that the angry would become angered

and the hurt ..well the hurt would be healed

Yes, I never dreamed, and I'm sure you didn't either

but God did and He knows His plans

so whether you dreamed, believed or doubted

He created these moments and He knows just what to do

so while I never dreamed... He did

And He will allow what He desires to come true

So trust Him and see that, while you never dreamed, What will Be will Be!!!

Penned @ 9:10 a.m June 11, 2011



Keep Being who and what God chose you to be!!!




It's In the Valley That We Grow


Sometimes life seems hard to bear,

Full of sorrow, trouble and woe

It's then we have to remember

That it's in the valleys we grow.



If we always stayed on the mountain top

And never experienced pain,

We would never appreciate God's love

And would be living in vain.



We have so much to learn

And our growth is very slow,

Sometimes we need the mountain tops,

But it's in the valleys we grow.



We do not always understand

Why things happen as they do,

But I am very sure of one thing.

Our Lord will see Us through.



Penned @ 9:10 a.m June 11, 2011

I won't Complain......

O what a happy soul am I!
Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy,
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!
---Fanny Crosby


Wherever you are ..whatever state you are in...see God's will in it and dare not to complain for He has a plan and a purpose for all you go through. Jeremiah 29

Time you remembered who you really are

God wants you to know ... that it's time you remembered who you really are.
You are not your wallet, your job, your kids, your house. You are not your activities or your worries or the labels other people give you. Like an actor you play these roles, and like a good actor you sometimes forget who you really are. Time to wake up now, and remember that you are a being of immense power and breathtaking beauty created in the image of God.

The richest woman I have ever known...

The Seed within that made me rich

or

The richest woman I have ever known




(A Psalm of Antoaneta)

The richest woman
I have ever known is here,
I look at her every day
as I admire the beauty of her image.

Smile that warms my heart
and feels with joy my soul,
the richest woman I have ever known is here,
more beautiful than ever,
with wisdom coming from above,
with her heart wide open
ready to receive form God
who opened the windows of heaven
and poured so many blessings
that eternity is to small to contain.

The richest woman I have ever known
is in my presence,
I see her every night and every day,
walking among the darkness of the world,
as her Light shies so bright
and her Love pours out,
because of the seed she carries inside.

The seed that grows even in her sleep,
the seed the Lord waters
during trials and tribulations
while she walks.

How beautiful are her feet,
that bring Good News to all who come her way,
how precious are her lips speaking truth
to the nations she Loves and cares for.

Her tears water the seed
as she suffers with Christ
with one thought on her mind,
that she will reign with Him forevermore.

What is a little bit of suffer?

Don't all men suffer
in a world full of corruption and death?

She walks, she gives all she has,
for her riches are everlasting
and her riches are enough for all the nations
of the world that are and are to come.

She is a mother to many,
she is a friend, who stick closer than a sister,
and the walls of her house are great so great,
willing to embrace every soul,
welcoming the hurting
and bringing them to a place of healing
and so much perfect joy.

I know that woman well,
and she knows me too.

We are best of friends
and we never doubts the One
who send her in His name.

Sometimes when she cries, I cry with her,
but she cries because she knows too much,
she has all and the reason she cries
is because she wants to give her all,
yet men want riches which grow corrupt,
riches which will perish,
riches they obtain with their hands,
riches they pay for with sweat on their brows,
but their riches are not everlasting,
their riches perish the day
they return to the ground
where they came from.

For from dust they came
and to dust they shall return,
unless they open their heart for true Love,
everlasting Love and beauty.

The richest woman I have ever known is I,
the one who was blessed with one Word
that grew into a kingdom which is everlasting,
kingdom which will never perish,
kingdom great in glory that comes to all
who seek the Lord with pure heart.

The richest woman I have ever seen
is the one I saw in Christ,
the Lord who was and is and is to come to all
who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
the richest woman has all
and never lucks a good thing,
because what she has is what she is
and she is One with God!

The riches woman,
I have ever seen.

Now look at the mirror
and tell me who do you see?

Be Encouraged!!