Good morning! This powerful and revelational prophetic word popped up in my Facebook memories the day before God gave me the word about the sea butterflies! No coincidence! He continues to highlight butterflies to us clearly trumpeting a message: you ARE emerging!

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Cocoons Are Opening! Beautiful Transformations Are Revealed! By Rene Parsons "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the immediate transformation we experience when we are made new in Christ. It is NOT the only transformation we are supposed to go through. If we don't continue to transform something is wrong. We are choosing not to engage with the Holy Spirit's transforming power. Keep Transforming! In 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2 both use the word "metamorphoō" in the original Greek text. This speaks to continuing transformation throughout our lives. In our English Bibles, metamorphoō is translated as "transformed." This happens through renewing or renovating of your mind. A process that you partake in. The final transformation will come in Heaven when we put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:52-54). The butterfly is a beautiful example of this new man taking flight in Christ. In fact, the transformation that the butterfly goes through is called "Metamorphosis." Sound familiar? It wasn’t until I learned more about the caterpillar and the butterfly on one of my favorite science shows that I realized how true this really is. Many think of the transformation of the caterpillar as going into the cocoon and kind of hibernating as it grows wings and it transforms into a beautiful butterfly. But let me tell you the truth, it is much more dramatic than that! If you could see into the cocoon what do you think you would see? Think about it. Would you see a caterpillar with tiny wings starting to sprout? No, you would not. If you were to cut a cocoon open at the beginning of the process, about two days in, you would find something all together startling and well, disturbing. You wouldn't find a caterpillar at all. All you would see is goo. Something like snot. You would see nothing that resembles the old caterpillar. In fact, scientifically speaking, it has disintegrated and died. Its life completely ended. From that nasty goo, somehow, and we don’t exactly even know how, a new creature, a butterfly, is formed and birthed out of the cocoon. And the “new thing” that doesn't even resemble what came before it goes on living! What of the caterpillar makes it through the transformation? Is the caterpillar in there at all? Well, a Georgetown professor was wondering that very thing. She performed a study in which she exposed a group of caterpillars to a smell and every time she exposed them to the smell she shocked them for about ten seconds. They became conditioned to hate and avoid the smell. After this group of caterpillars went in their cocoons and butterflies came out, she exposed them again to the smell. They all hated it! They did all they could to avoid it. So what makes it through? Memories do. And they influence how the new, beautiful butterfly behaves. We struggle with that same thing. The memories and experiences we had stay with us, even after we are made new. This is why we MUST allow the Holy Spirit to renovate our minds (Romans 12:2). There is something even more interesting. If you take that same caterpillar before it goes into its cocoon and cut it open you find something astonishing and exciting! You find the beginnings of the butterfly. You can see wings, and antennas, and the legs of the butterfly. It is in the very outside layer just under the skin, and the structure of the new creation is hidden and is preserved. It does not enter the goo. It is rolled up tightly against the wall of the cocoon. As the Lord knitted us together, He put everything in us needed to fulfill our destiny in Him. He preserves it as He allows every part of us, that is not useful, to be stripped away and killed off. It is a process. It is messy. Eventually, it is beautiful. What if that caterpillar refused to get in his cocoon!? What if he was afraid to go through the transformation? What if he just could not see himself flying flower to flower as he was destined to do? I will tell you what would happen. He would die a caterpillar. He would not fulfill his destiny. That is what happened with the Israelites. They got stuck seeing themselves as less than they were made for. Their mindset was so powerful that it overrode the promise God wanted them to have. If we are not transforming from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18) then we set ourselves up for a difficult and tormented Christian existence as we say "YES" to Christ but "NO" to His continuing transformation of us. It is a picture of giving life support to the dead person we once were. Nothing good can come from it. Don't be afraid to hunker down in your cocoon and engage in the transformation that God wants to take you through. God has already placed the wings you need for this next season inside of you. He has been preserving them and keeping them out of the goo so they won't be tainted by your past season. You are about to spread your wings and fly! Cocoons are opening and beautiful transformations are being revealed. What of your future self is in you right now just waiting to take shape and take flight? It is the most beautiful part that only comes forth after everything else is stripped away.