Allow God to help you become.
"Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice."
- Isaiah 41:10 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)
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One of my close friends reached out to me for prayer last week around her weight loss journey. She had been doing everything right but, somehow, last week she gained weight instead of losing it and, as you can imagine, it was frustrating her to the point of tears. This is normally the time in her weight loss efforts that she just decides to give up because it's not worth it but she didn't want to give up this time. As I comforted her, the Holy Spirit brought a story I heard recently to mind that I also want to share with you in case you're also enduring the difficulties of going after a goal you've set for yourself.
There was a guy monitoring a caterpillar that had gone into its cocoon. As it's time to emerge from the cocoon approached, the guy noticed the newly transformed butterfly was struggling to break free of the cocoon. Out of compassion for the butterfly, he helped loosen and remove the cocoon for it so that it could finally break free. But, while this was intended to be an act of kindness, it came with a negative consequence:
Though the butterfly had fully formed wings, it could not fly.
That's because the very act of struggling to get out of the cocoon produces and pushes special fluid into a butterfly's wings that gives them strength to hold them up in flight. Without that struggle, a butterfly can never reach its full potential.
You may be mad at God for not removing a burden or obstacle in the way you want, but trust and believe that this difficulty is possibly the very thing required for your transformation process to be complete. It may not make sense now, but you may very well need these "muscles" you're building for the vision you see on the other side of this. So let God be your personal trainer and "strengthen and harden you to difficulties" so that you have what it takes to handle the things you're praying & working for.
Remember, it's not about the weight loss (or whatever goal you're working toward), it's about who you are becoming in the process. You, my dear, are a butterfly and flight is most definitely in your future 😊
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Still hungry? Eat some more //
- James 1:2-4 → Just let it happen. Your total transformation depends on it.
- I don't know or follow this dude but my little brother just "happened" to share this post the day after I decided to write this devotional and it aligned so perfectly I had to share.
- If you need support & accountability around your goals so that you can become the next version of yourself, book a Focus Strategy Call with me.