The Wait

Oh the wait! This week I will have surgery. On that day, it will have been three weeks since it was scheduled – three weeks of thinking about what the doctors will do to me, grieving the loss of my breasts, worrying about those lymph nodes, searching God’s face with pleading eyes.

But today, God reminds me of the butterfly. A caterpillar goes into a cocoon and comes out a butterfly, but first there’s the struggle. The caterpillar twists and bends and wriggles. He works and works to get free, but this can take quite a while. Sometimes he has to rest. The exertion thins his plump body and strengthens his wings. If some well-meaning person were to cut the cocoon open to help him, the caterpillar would emerge underdeveloped, and he would never fly. He would never glorify his Creator in the way he was intended.

“I asked for strength,

            And God gave me difficulties to overcome and strengthen me.

I asked for wisdom,

            And God gave me problems to solve.

I asked for prosperity,

            And God gave me enough brain and brawn to work.

I asked for courage,

            And God gave me obstacles to overcome.

I asked for love,

            And God gave me troubled people who were ready to help.

I asked for favors,

            And God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted,

            But I received everything I needed.” (Candy Lobb, butterflystory.homestead.com)

Everybody has to wait sometimes. May we embrace the wait – the struggle – while God develops us for His glory.

joyce hague