THE PAIN OF PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

The Pain of Personal Transformation

We find answers and the questions change. We find an opportunity that seems certain and something falls through the cracks. We are walking left but find that it is not right. Life happens. Sometimes our lives contract before they expand. We may be working hard on ourselves spiritually, doing good in the world, following our dreams, and wondering why we are still facing constrictions of all kinds-financial, emotional, physical.

Perhaps we even feel as if we've grieved the Holy Spirit and our spirituality. We feel are stuck in a dark room with no windows. We may be confused and discouraged by what appears to be a lack of progress. Many times, we don't even know it is a process. Go figure. But sometimes this is the way things work. Like a caterpillar transitioning to a butterfly; it confines itself to a tiny cocoon before it grows wings and flies, we are experiencing the darkness before the dawn. When we have done all that we know to do and things feel tight, it's easy to panic or want to act in some way to ease the feeling of constriction. We might also spin our wheels mentally, trying to understand why things are the way they are. However, there is nothing we need to do at this time other than to be patient and wait on God; The Holy Spirit is at work.

Remember, God always start with a seed; once the seed sown, we can only go to sleep and wake up. Whatever happens, don't dig it up to see if it is growing. We can cling to the awareness that we are being transformed from one stage to another. The more we surrender to the experience, the more quickly we will move through wilderness and into the opening on the other side of through. Just like a baby making its way down the birth canal, or the butterfly spinning out of the cocoon; we may feel squeezed and pushed and very uncomfortable, but if we remember that we are on our way to being born into a new reality, we will find the strength to carry on. The healthiest catapillar is no match for an emancipated butterfly.

Even as we endure the contractions of childbirth and the restraint of the butterfly; we can find peace within ourselves if we remember to trust the Holy Spirit. We can look to the natural world for inspiration as we see that all beings surrender to the process of being born and being born again. Sometimes, we just need to turn our eyes on Jesus and pray as we surrender.

In that surrender, and in the center of our own hearts, is a willingness to trust in God as we make our way through the transition. Be still and know that He Is God. He knows the plans He has for you. Jeremiah 29:11

His plan is always better than our plan.

FADE TO LIFE: When God Winks at You

When God Winks at You
Every so-called coincidence or answered prayer is God’s way of letting you know He's thinking of you.
By Squire Rushnell
You’ve had another one of those days. Everything seems uncertain. You think: Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one morning and have everything be certain? Certain in love? Certain about your job? Certain about your future? Who could you talk to about this? Bigger question, who’d listen? Tentatively your eyes drift skyward. Hello? Are you there, God? Then your mind quickly assesses the immensity of your request. You want God to listen to you, right now. How ridiculous. There are six billion people on this planet. What if they’re all calling God at the same time? You slump. Deeper into the dumps.

Then--something happens. A little silly thing. Someone you just thought about for the first time in years phones out of the blue--a silly little coincidence, so silly you shrug it off. Or a prayer you didn’t really expect to be answered--was! Immediately, your left brain repeats something you once heard: There’s a mathematical explanation for everything. “But…” you say, “mayyyyybe…it’s not just coincidence or chance!” Maybe God is communicating with you. Yes directly to you! You shake your head. Naw. Couldn’t be. But…what if God is communicating with you--in a nonverbal way--making a little miracle happen, right in front of you? After all, God doesn’t speak to people in a human voice. He’s God…He’d do something no one else could do, just to show you it’s Him! If so, that would mean that He is listening! Right? He has heard you!

What if through this odd little coincidence, or answered prayer, He’s sending you--you… out of all of those billions of people--a direct personal message of reassurance? To stop worrying? To keep the faith? That everything will be all right? Every time you receive what some call a coincidence or an answered prayer, it’s a direct and personal message of reassurance from God to you--what I call a godwink. It’s similar to when you were a kid at the dining room table. You looked up and saw someone you loved looking back. Mom or Dad or Granddad. They gave you a little wink. You had a nice feeling from that small silent communication. What did it mean? Probably--“Hey kid…I’m thinking about you right this moment. I’m proud of you. Everything is going to be all right.” That’s what a godwink is. Every so-called coincidence or answered prayer is God’s way of giving you His small, silent, communication. A little wink saying, “Hey kid! I’m thinking of you…right now!”

It’s a clear message of reassurance-that not matter how uncertain your life seems at the moment, He will help move you toward certainty. And it’s a sign that you’re never alone. In fact, you’re always on His GPS--a global positioning system I like to call God’s Positioning System…. When It's Crystal Clear In Anaheim, California, Mavis Jackson drove past the Crystal Cathedral. For twenty years, she said the same thing: “Someday I’m going to go there.” One Sunday morning, she did. Putting on her best outfit, she simply decided, “Today is the day.” Getting there early, Mavis took a seat in the middle and watched the huge three thousand-seat megachurch fill with people. She was awed as the majestic voices of the choir seemed to encircle her. She marveled at the manner in which a huge section of the glass ceiling slid open at the start of the worship was if to invite even the birds to worship. At the end of the service, Mavis stood up and waited for the aisle to clear. Trying not to sound too excited, she said to the young lady next to her, “I am so glad I came today. Wasn’t it wonderful?” The young woman nodded.
“Are you from here?” asked Mavis. “No, I’m from the Midwest,” said the young woman adding, “I’m actually here on a mission. To find my birth mother.” There was a pause. “I know how you must feel,” said Mavis. “A long time ago, I had to give up a little girl for adoption. I didn’t want to…but…” Another pause. The young woman looked deeply into Mavis’s eyes. “Do you…remember her birthday?” “Yes,” said Mavis cautiously. “October 30th.” “That’s my birthday,” gasped the young woman. That’s right! A remarkable “coincidence”--a godwink--had reunited a long-lost mother and daughter. What are the odds of that? They sat down. The young woman introduced herself as Cheryl Wallace. Cheryl explained that for years she had been haunted by the lingering uncertainty of not knowing who her birth mother was and, more important, why her mother had given her up. In her small midwest town, everyone was discouraging. “You’re looking for a needle in a haystack,” counseled the town clerk. “There’s no trace of her,” said others. Eventually a suggestion from someone who thought she’d once heard that Cheryl’s birth mother had moved to Orange County, California, led her to this time and place.

Even on her most optimistic days, Cheryl never could have forecast such a remarkable outcome--that such uncertainty would end in such certainty, in a manner that only God could have made happen. And when they confirmed that their wonderful miracle was true--that they were long-lost mother and daughter--they knew that Mother’s Day would never be the same again.