Religion & Spirituality
On a Facebook post to encourage people to listen to this episode, I wrote, "You can't talk about being thrown into the wilderness without also talking about the beauty you find there during those long and lonely years." If Shelly hadn't agreed to record part 2 of her interview, you might have thought her story ended there - that dark, lonely, and painful place. Thankfully, she agreed to come back, so we could discuss the beauty she found in the wilderness. It's hard to see beauty when you're in the wilderness, but Shelly and I discussed how the transformation during that time is like the metamorphosis process and like the refining fire. Neither the cocoon nor the fire feels beautiful while we are in it. It's what happens after the cocoon and after being taken out of the fire that proves to be beyond beautiful.So, if you're in the cocoon or in the fire, hang in there. It will end. And you'll have a new perspective - one that highlights the beauty that you will not be able to ignore it!"The same sun that melts the butter hardens the clay." ~ Billy GrahamTRANSFORMATION: Caterpillar ---> butterfly2 wings of the butterfly ----> Spirit + truth = freedomShelly referred to many verses during her explanations. As promised, here they are:* The great exchange: Isaiah 61:1-3The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]to proclaim the year of theLord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,the oil of joy instead of mourning,and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.REFINING FIRE:Job 23:10But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.* The journey to freedom:The more you know Him, the more you love Him.The more you love Him, the more you trust Him.The more you trust Him, the more freedom you experience.Ephesians 2:10: For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Romans 12:2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.Ephesians 3:16-19I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.