When I began my “butterfly journey”, I didn’t realize how many women in the world were suffering with the same issues that I myself had dealt with for so long. But I am noticing that it is a common theme for most of us to lose ourselves, our worth, our purpose, and our faith while doing life.
You know when I think about life it is so much more than just working, cleaning, taking care of others etc. God created it to be a time to understand who He is, understand of ourselves, our worth, our purpose and each other. One of His greatest commandments is to love thy neighbor as thyself. But we fall short on this because we lose the ability to love ourselves. Our society is full of the message that it is selfish to do things for yourself, especially women. But we must if we are ever going to reach the full potential of our lives as God has planned.
We are expected to have a career, raise a family, be competitive, have a great shape, complete our education, do the laundry, clean the house, serve in the church, take care of our extended family and whole host of other things! Whew, that made me tired just typing it out! And nothing is wrong with any of this, we do have responsibilities, but then where do we fit God in all of this? That’s the missing link! We end up doing all this and more and we lose our relationship with the one who can give us everything we need. That’s what happened to me and I am not proud to admit it but it’s the truth.
My personality is one of “people pleaser” or so it was. I had to fit in and make people pleased with me and my abilities. What happened was I could finally take no more and I shut down; emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, and physically. I was a wreck! I suffered a deep depression for over 2 years and tried desperately to figure out what happened to me. That’s when my “butterfly journey” began. When I could suffer no more, God showed me my life using the analogy of a caterpillar’s journey to becoming a butterfly, to illustrate where I had gone all wrong. (The Butterfly’s Journey book to be released April 2012)!
The main thing (a relationship with God) had become a secondary, or really even third or fourth place in my life. I was literally in a place of hell (separated from God) and it was horrific to say the least! I didn’t understand my “true” worth in Him; I only knew what my worth was to others and to them I was disposable, even to some I was garbage.
I let the God of my creation heal me from the inside out and my life has never been the same. Through my pain He gave me my purpose, through my tears He gave me joy, and through my newly established relationship, He showed me my worth!
It’s time ladies to take your rightful places in life and live a transformed life with purpose in God!
The Butterfly Journey – Lisa
