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Around 18 months ago Linda brought a prophetic word to the church that at the time we didn't realise how key it would be to the season we were about to enter. In the prophetic word, Linda saw a beautiful butterfly emerging from a chrysalis and felt strongly that this represented our church. She believed God was saying that he would change us into this butterfly. After my initial reaction of, "That's nice, thanks very much" God really started to speak to me about the Chrysalis stage of this word. I really felt that God wanted us to understand that we will not be "the butterfly" until we have gone through the Chrysalis stage. What follows are my thoughts of how we should think about this chrysalis stage in the current season we find ourselves in.
We are being changed into something new. Butterflies are not caterpillars with wings! Inside the chrysalis, a caterpillar turns into a kind of soup before reforming itself into a totally different kind of creature. The process is not pretty and it's not pleasant. I believe that this is what God is doing with us currently. We are being broken down so that we can be reformed (by God) into something new, exciting, and beautiful.
We are protected. The chrysalis functions as a protective shell for all that is going on inside. I believe we can rely fully on God's protection as we go through this change together. It won't be easy and will feel precarious at times but we are protected!
We may not look like much to others. A chrysalis doesn't do very much. In most cases, it's not particularly pretty either! It's hard to believe the amazing transformation that is taking place inside. To those looking in from the outside, it may appear that nothing much is going on and they may even say as much! But we know that underneath God is doing something incredibly transformative that will eventually be very wonderful. We won't change overnight. What I don't know is how long this process will take. Like me, you will be looking forward to and longing for the "butterfly stage" but we will need to be patient and embrace the process. It would be catastrophic for a butterfly to emerge too soon without fully reforming. Please can I encourage you to join with me in committing to praying regularly into this process.
Please pray:
that God changes us into something wonderful that brings Him all the glory.
that God continues to protect us from anything that may seek to hinder the process.
for patience as we go through this process - it may take a while for us to emerge again.