DEVOTION: March 2

God doesn’t often answer me immediately. I bared my soul that morning and mostly felt relieved to have figured out the core question I was wrestling with. I continued to walk, questioning and stepping and breathing deep along the way. 

I noticed a yellow butterfly around the corner, flitting about nonsensically. I smiled as it tried to discern which way it should go. Another came alongside it and they danced in the air, not finding good rhythm but enjoying the dance. 

Then another came along. And yet another and another and another. And suddenly I was surrounded by a kaleidoscope of butterflies — a pillar by day — journeying with me as I walked and questioned.

Okay, God, you’ve got my attention.

I researched butterflies the minute I got home. Page after page taught me about life cycles and variations and species, colors and transformations and migration patterns.

And there, a footnote at the bottom of an academic journal, it said,

The Ancient Greek word for butterfly is psuche, which means soul.

Oh. Lord.

I wept.

What God spoke to me right there at the keyboard was that my wrestling was intentional and not without His knowledge. He was transforming me, my soul beginning a metamorphosis. The original essence of who I was wasn’t changing, but what I was going to look like going forward was. I was becoming, soon to grow wings that would take me higher in faith, so I could fly free.

Our human struggles are very real, and God doesn’t diminish their importance the way we do. He created us, of course He would care deeply that we struggle to find our way, to discover who we are. But though we feel lost, the truth is He always knows exactly where we are. Spend time together letting Him know where you feel lost, or stuck, forgotten or left behind. Memorize a verse that speaks truth to the reality of how close God is.

“Do not be afraid. For I have bought you and made you free. I have called you by name. You are Mine!” (Isaiah 43:1, New Life Version)