One of the most fascinating things I’ve learned in the last few years is the process of a caterpillar in a cocoon. I had always thought of the couple of weeks a caterpillar spends there as a little nap while their body sprouts wings, and that is the furthest thing from the truth.

After eating copious amounts of leaves and growing to the maximum, a caterpillar forms a cocoon around themselves in order to become a butterfly. Once inside, the caterpillar literally splits its skin apart, and then its own digestive juices digest and liquefy its body. Inside the cocoon, it is just goo—nothing remains of its old structure other than the liquefied, digested slime. Then, the cells reform as an entirely new being.

When the butterfly finally works its way out of the cocoon, it has been completely transformed in what has to be one of the ickiest processes. It comes out beautiful, but, man, did it ever go through it to get there!

I know that we often compare the caterpillar-to-butterfly process with 2 Corinthians 5:17, in which we are told we are new creations. And that is definitely a good comparison. What came to my mind this week, though, was how often we go through cocoons in going deeper with Jesus in relationship. They bring change and new growth, but they really stink in the process.

Many of the people I talk to right now are in their own little coccon of liquefication. They feel their worlds have been churned into goo, and are waiting for the process to end. I know going deeper in any relationship often requires hardship, and I don’t think our relationship with God is different in that way. So what do we do when we find ourselves in a cocoon?

James calls us to see it as an opportunity (see verse below) to experience the greatest joy you can! What?! He sees going through the difficulties as a way to stir up the power of endurance and releasing perfection through your being. I love that this is an endurance and power that is already within you in Christ’s Life. He is within you, and the hardship releases this explosion of Life through you.

This is why we don’t lose heart or stay discouraged about the difficulties we face, for we know that God is bringing something good out of it. This doesn’t mean that I thoroughly enjoy the cocoon, but I can see past the pain and feeling like I’m being pulled apart to the love of Jesus that surrounds me the whole way. He is bringing new revelation, new depth and new power through me.

Sometimes I want to give up and bust out of the cocoon early, but I can’t when I’m in the middle of the process. Instead, I must wait patiently, focused on the love that surrounds me as He remakes me and takes me to a deeper revelation of His perfection through me.

My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested  it stirs up in you the power of endurance. And then as your endurance grows even stronger, it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking. James 1:2-4