Metamorphosis
New Life
Baptism
Regeneration
What do you think of when you hear these words?
Maybe a butterfly coming out of it’s cocoon, or a baby being
born.
A Christian letting the old life wash away and the new
begin.
A plant going through the growth process.
To me these words all represent this season of my life, and
the celebration of this season happened on Saturday, February 19th,
2011. I started my morning with the plan to meet up with Stephanie Fisk, a dear
friend of mine here at G42 and we were planning on spending time at the beach and
have delicious tapas.
As I was heading down on the bus, I began to ask
God how I was going to celebrate this season. He asked me what is your prayer?
What is your hearts desire? I thought about it for a moment and said, “Purity.”
I want you to purify my heart and make me like a child
again, with child-like faith.
I met up with Steph. We had a beautiful conversation over
tapas. Steph shared Psalm 126
where it says, that those who sow in tears, reap in joy. YAY, that’s a
promise…I’ll take that. We talked about how faithful God has been and we encouraged each other. I was full of peace. We prayed that God’s presence
would just be with us, so close!
Next, we headed down to the beach, and I had in mind that I
wanted to play a worship song.
It was “Til the Ground,” by Jason Upton and in the song, the lyrics say
that “victory is the groom and purity is the bride.” YES!! As we listened to
the song, I was gathering the broken shells and putting them in my shoe. It was
so simple, yet so profound. As I was gathering them, the Lord was speaking.
These broken shells represent your heart, and as you gather them, I gather you.
Steph and I finished listening to the songs, and I decided to go to the waters
edge with my shoe filled with shells to spell out Purity. I began to take the shells
out and spell it out. With each placement, more and more peace came. I had
deliberately decided to place the shells right at the waters edge so it would
take time for the water to wash over them. I spelled out Purity with the shells, and the Lord told
me, see, I take all the broken pieces and I make a beautiful masterpiece of my
powerful love. That’s exactly what I felt, I felt a powerful love overwhelm me. The shoe above the shells spelling out Purity, symbolized that I am walking in purity of
heart and mind. What a precious gift that He gives us, a fresh new start
and uses our brokenness as beauty.
As I completed the placement of the shells, I sat back with tears in my eyes and
just thanked God for making me new, and asked him to just have the waves wash
one time over the shells. I wanted a physical display of what was happening in
my heart, and with my emotions. As Steph and I talked about all the symbolism of that moment and how
God was speaking, the waves washed over the shells one time. Wow, freedom. You
could still see what I created but it was washed over by the power of His love.
Perfect.
Before we left, I declared God’s deep work in my heart and
His endless love for me. I declared that my hearts desire was met that day, but
actually before time because He said, it is finished when He died on the cross.
He already made provision for my sin long ago, and delights when we forgive
ourselves, and let His forgiveness wash over us.
Steph read in Malachi 4, “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” Steph handed me a shell shaped like an angel wing and it represented the healing the Lord has done in me.
Before we left, I asked Him to sweep over the shells one
last time with the waves , and cover them completely. He did, and it was the
perfect end to the perfect beginning of a new life with Him. No matter how much our hearts stray
away, He’s right beside us, loving us right back into His powerful embrace. Steph and I stood in the cold water and
prayed one more time for each other as we stood side by side. OH, JESUS!!!
Steph and I decided to celebrate the celebrating and find a
place to get some food.
As we were walking through the streets, we came across a few
places but we really wanted a place that felt just right. We saw a sign that
said “happy hour” 6-8, 2 for 1 drinks, and a menu of Mexican food. What? The night
before her, we both were talking about how we missed Mexican food and would love
a margarita. Where do we find that food in Southern Spain? As we were
contemplating coming back in an hour, the owner came out and we struck up a
conversation, realizing that he was from the states and he got so excited, that
he invited us in for a free margarita on him. We were so happy, and even
happier when he brought out a bowl of legit chips and salsa. I almost starting
crying. I’m easy to please, what can I say? We decided to order a burrito to share and it was only
$5.50 euro, so we figured it was an awesome deal. As that was being prepared, the owner whose name is Nash brought us spinach artichoke
dip (AHHH), and it was delicious…Then ordered us another round of margaritas,
and let me say, that they were small but tasted so good. He had all the
American hot sauces and even jalepenos, and another bowl of chips and salsa. I
couldn’t believe it. Then he surprised us by bringing an order of shrimp
cocktail with real cocktail sauce. All these items I’m describing are simple
little things but when you can’t get them here, they were a treat for us. I
actually started crying because it was so fabulous. I turned to Steph and said,
it’s like Jesus is serving us here at the bar. I can’t afford all this, nor have I done anything to deserve it, but it’s given freely. I feel like the Lord is just giving us this feast for the
celebration.
We were so
grateful and thanked Nash over and over. We were amazed by the Lord’s simple blessing and received the bill for the dinner. It was only $5.50 for all
that food…what?
We paid the bill and left an extra 4 euro and told them we
would be back again, and bring our friends.
The day was coming to a close and Steph and I were feeling
full, content and grateful. I went home believing, I truly am regenerated, made new, walking in purity and my child-like faith is restored. I feel different. I think different. I see Him in everything now.
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”
