Gift, disappointment, lesson?

As I was sitting in a restaurant today, someone told me the following story......

There was a lady once that asked God for a flower and a butterfly. A couple of days later, she got a cactus and a caterpillar. She was very disappointed and slightly angry at God.

"Why did you gave me these ugly things?" she asked.

God never answered her, He stayed quiet......

 

It wasn't till a couple of days later that the caterpillar grew into a big beautiful butterfly and the cactus started blossoming the most precious flowers she's ever seen.

I'm not sure if this story is famous or not but it was the first time that I heard it. And I believe that there's a lot to learn from this story. So I would like to challenge you to think for yourself what you can learn from this story, as well as how to apply this lesson to your life at the moment.

I would really love to hear what it is....if you're willing to share.

The thorn in my flesh

In the short time I have spend here on earth so far, I have heard many people use the expression "thorn in my flesh" in many different ways. The truth is nobody really knows what Paul was talking about in 2 Cor 12 when he said "there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me". Yet personally there where times in my life when I felt I had a thorn in my flesh.

My definition of this expression would be, "something very annoying that you do not really know how to deal with yet you can not do anything about it". That is exactly what I feel these days concerning waiting. Being back home and trying to figure out what to do with my time is an annoying thought process. But the thing that I dislike the most about it is waiting on God.

Every day I wake up with all these "brilliant" ideas in my head that I want to crystallize. Ideas on how to make money, connect with people and even invent something. The only problem with these things is that they are my ideas and things that I want to do. When I pray and ask God for His guidance, He usually tells me to wait and He will direct me.

There has been many instances in the past that I felt God was showing me to wait on Him. And you would think that by now I have mastered this technique. But the truth is I still have a lot to learn. While I was in Montana a fellow once said "let time be time and not force the process". That is exactly what I need to learn. For the Bible promises that:

Those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint