Earlier I had a Ministry Leadership Council (MLC) meeting. WOW! I learned sooooo much tonight! First, we were able to watch a short film called "Butterfly Circus", which was awesome! It is actually being made into a feature film, and I will definitely have to see it when it comes out! It's hard to explain the story briefly, without giving it all away. It's basically a story about hope and new beginnings. If you haven't seen it, you need to! The film never mentions Jesus or anything about Christianity in it, but I could see Jesus shining through it! I saw parallels to the new life Jesus offers, and how He can take the things that are broken, and make them into something beautiful! After we watched the film, we discussed some questions that we had about it. Tomorrow night at FOCUS (which is like a mid-week worship service) they will be showing this film, and we (MLCers) will be leading small group discussions afterwards! I am really excited!! I am still thinking about some of the questions that were discussed in the meeting, and applying them to my own life! A quote from the film that really stands out is, "The greater the struggle, the more glorious the triumph." For instance, if I were to attempt to run a marathon (keep in mind, I am NOT a runner), it would be a HUGE struggle to make it through! However, when (if) I crossed the finish line, it would be an even BIGGER triumph! Don't worry, I'm not attempting to run any marathons, but our lives are like that! We struggle, and these struggles can be small struggles or big struggles, and while it's awesome to triumph over all our struggles, it's when we triumph over the big struggles, that the triumph is truly glorious. I also really loved the message that brokenness can be turned into beauty. Often times, we believe the lie that because we are broken, we are useless/worthless. This is simply false! We are worth so much that Jesus Christ died for us! Now that is amazing! I wonder what it would look like if we weren't afraid to show our brokenness to others, and to let God use it to create something beautiful. Think about a butterfly. A butterfly starts out as an egg, that hatches into a caterpillar (larva). Personally, I think caterpillars are gross, and not very cute (unlike the caterpillar in
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, can you tell I'm going to be a teacher?!). Next, comes the chrysalis (pupa) stage. During this stage the caterpillar is transforming inside its cocoon. Cocoons aren't very pretty either, but in the cocoon, transformation is taking place. This takes time. Eventually, a butterfly will emerge from the cocoon. It's actually kind of strange to think that what went into the cocoon was a caterpillar, and then what comes out is a butterfly. God is creative! We are just like caterpillars though. We too are ugly, and gross. We are sinners. We are broken. But God, in his amazing grace, can transform us! Through Jesus, we have been given new life! We are no longer caterpillars! We are transformed into butterflies, which are beautiful! Did you get it?! Our brokenness is turned into beauty through Jesus Christ! "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
I also had a second meeting, which is for all the leaders of local ministries. Tonight we were talking about Mark 8:22-26, where Jesus heals a blind man. I love getting to hear other people's perspectives, and it's so neat to see God work through that! The thing that really stood out to me was that Jesus doesn't completely heal him the first time. Jesus spits on the man's eyes (I've always wondered about that), and then puts His hands on him, but the man's vision is blurry. It's not clear. Jesus then touches the man again, and this time his sight is restored. Everything is clear. I wonder a lot of things about this story. Why did Jesus not completely restore his sight the first him? How long was it between things being blurry, and his sight being completely restored? What did the man think when Jesus didn't completely heal him the first time? Was he excited to be able to see something (blurry or not)? Was he thankful? Was he disappointed in Jesus? Did he doubt Jesus' power or willingness to heal him? These are just a few questions... What I learned from this story tonight was that God's timing is not the same as ours. This was really more of a reminder (it's needed constantly!). Also, God can fully heal us if He wants (the first time) or He can progressively heal us (like in this story). I also realized that sometimes God gives us puzzle pieces without us even knowing what the picture is. He may only give us a few pieces or He may give us all of the pieces. It just depends on His timing! Reminder to myself, TRUST GOD'S TIMING!!! I know this is a really long post, and I hope it was coherent! I pray that God will reveal His truth to you! I am so thankful for nights like tonight. I am thankful that God loves me enough to reveal Himself to me, and to give me new life! I am thankful that He is the ultimate Healer, and that He is Beauty! I pray that He will give me eyes to see the beauty in brokenness, and that I will trust Him when I can't see or when things are blurry!
"Give me Your eyes for just one second, give me Your eyes so I can see, everything that I keep missing, give me Your love for humanity, give me Your arms for the brokenhearted, the one's that are far beyond my reach, give me a heart for the ones forgotten, give me Your eyes so I can see!" (Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath)
