Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,133

who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

“Did you catch that?” Merel asked. “Read that last sentence again.”

“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Taylor stopped reading and nodded. “He gave us grace and peace and knowledge so we don’t have to keep being caterpillars.”

“Right. Now, keep reading.”

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“So why try and why keep trying?” Merel asked. “Because for this very reason… because it’s turning you into the butterfly you were always meant to be. You keep going in the face of uncertainty and the world’s chaos because maintaining faith and goodness in that adversity is the very thing that’s turning you into the butterfly. You keep having self-control even when it’s hard. You keep persevering because you already know the outcome. When you do that, you get to participate in the divine nature now and escape the things the world throws at you.”

“Ugh, well that would be nice, but I don’t think I escaped it.”

“You didn’t?” Merel asked.

“No.”

“Okay, let me ask you this. Was there a time you would have willingly gone out partying or whatever with your roommate? Was there a time you wouldn’t have rejected that lifestyle but instead participated in it?”

That slayed Taylor into silence, and she looked down at her hands.

“That’s not a judgment, Taylor. It doesn’t mean you were a horrible person back then,” Merel said. “It means you’re growing, you’re learning, you’re doing life better now than you once did. That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah, well, fat lotta good that’s doing me.”

“Are you serious right now?” Merel asked, which sounded strange coming from a 70 year old woman. “Tell me you’re not serious.”

Taylor tried to think of a comeback, but it didn’t work.

“Let me tell you something. Growing up is about learning to take responsibility for yourself and do things the right way, not just the easy way. And that kind of change is hard. To really change takes focusing on the prize, on the goal, and not letting anything get in your way. It takes being willing to do the hard thing and learning to do the right thing in spite of everything and in the face of everything that’s being thrown at you. When the world is coming at you, you’ve got to…”

“Get out of the boat,” Taylor said, sitting up straight. “Oh, my… wow. I didn’t think about it like that.”

“Like?”

“He said… the pastor said, when you get out of the boat, the wind and the waves increase. When you take that step to really trust Jesus, the wind and the waves do everything they can to get your attention away from Him. That’s what happened.”

When Merel said nothing, Taylor continued.

“I had a breakthrough this weekend, at least I kind of did, I think. I started getting out of the boat. I started listening to what God was telling me, and for a minute, everything was peaceful and exciting. I was just bouncing on all that God was showing me. And then I came home to all of this.”

“Ah, don’t you see? There was a reason God got you out of that situation.”

“My stuff got wrecked,” Taylor said, “but I wasn’t there.”

“You know, sometimes things fall apart so God can put them back together in a better way than they were before,” Merel said. “You see this as Satan winning.”

“But only if you think God isn’t in the picture,” Taylor said. “I don’t have to let this break me or take me down. Maybe God’s got something in mind here I can’t even see. Maybe this is just the process that’s going to help me become a butterfly.”

“Do you know what prompts trees to dig deep roots?” Merel asked.

“No,” Taylor said, starting to anticipate that the answer might be more profound than just trees and roots.

“The