THE
SIDEBAR IS THIS: I TEACH A “WIFE CURRICULUM CLASS” ON
FACEBOOK. I USUALLY DON’T RE-POST THESE BUT THIS ONE WAS TOO GOOD FOR
A SINGLE WOMAN TO MISS. I’M RUSHING WITH NO REAL TIME TO EDIT OUT
CONTENT AND SO IF THERE’S ANYTHING “LOST IN THE TRANSLATION”
(LIKE THE GIVE AWAY REFERENCE), IT’S BECAUSE IT’S WRITTEN FOR THE
CLASS. ENJOY! GOD IS GREAT!

The
Lord can control a king’s mind as he controls a river; he can direct
it as he pleases.”—Proverbs 21:1 (NCV)

This
one, I hope makes you smile. Me personally? I’m still grinning from
ear-to-ear.

I was just telling a prayer partner of mine
tonight that I have no idea how people can serve God and feel like
they live an “ordinary” life. I mean, we’re made in the image of
a being who can do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, right?
(Ephesians 3:20) That said, shouldn’t we live our lives with that
same kind of energy? With an expectation of what he said he would do:
BLOW OUR MINDS?!? Lately, I have been. I’ve been on the “Good
Morning God! So, whatcha got?” tip and man, has it been paying
off!

Take yesterday, for instance. While going to pick up
lunch, I moseyed around Cracker Barrel and “came upon” the cutest
toy. Now, before I go any deeper into it, let me share a scripture
that should light a fire under the less spontaneous and confirm that
“No, you are not crazy” to the more ambitious:

“The
lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord
[even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by
Him].”—Proverbs 16:33 (AMP)

EVEN
THE EVENTS THAT SEEM ACCIDENTAL ARE REALLY ORDERED BY HIM. (Bookmark
that)

OK, so I’m looking at this toy, right? It’s called a
“Frog to Prince” and on the front of the package it says,
“Kissing Frogs No Longer Required” (love it…LOVE IT). I turned
the box to its side and it says, “Fill with water and the frog
magically dissolves, revealing a full grown prince in 72 hours.”

SHUT YOUR MOUTH! TOO CUTE, RIGHT?

I picked up four of
’em (we’ll talk about why in a minute), but as I really thought about
that toy, I thought about the instructions re: the transformation. I
was also tickled pink that the “frog/prince” is housed in an
egg-shaped container. For those of you who don’t know—or might have
forgotten—God told me in January to start collecting eggs. I didn’t
know why at the time, I just did it…because he said to. People
looked at me like I was crazy, but…whatever. Let me say this: A lot
of people miss out on certain things God is trying to show them,
specifically, because they are so busy either caring what people
think or COPYING SOMEONE ELSE’S PATH. Let God speak to you what he
wants for you. Eggs are what he spoke to me. This is not the time to
start stocking up on some of your own. The purpose of sharing this is
so you can see how God’s ways really are above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Don’t worry about how “crazy” what he tells you may look; just
purpose in your mind to be obedient.

So anyway, once I got my
first egg, I then started doing some research. I discovered that they
symbolize hope, birth, rebirth, fertility, renewal, resurrection,
prosperity and happiness. One day I will share how many things God
has taught me about my own wife preparation journey since collecting
them, but for now, knowing what you now know, I’m sure you can
understand why finding a “frog/prince” in a clear
egg
made
me smile.

Check.

Oh, but there were a couple of other
things that I loved about it, too. I am also a big “numbers
symbolize things” kind of gal, and so, when I saw that it took 72
hours…THREE DAYS to transform Kermie’s cousin, that also made me
giggle. One site where I do a lot of my research on this subject
matter in particular explained “3” as this: “All things that
are especially complete and entire are stamped with the number
three.” It provided the following things as examples:

*Gods
attributes are three – omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence.

*The three divisions of time – past, present and future.
*The
three persons in grammar – me, myself and I.
*The sum of all
human ability is threefold – thought, word and deed.
*The three
kingdoms of matter – animal, vegetable or mineral.

It went on
to share this:

“There are three steps listed in [the Bible]
to lead to salvation. Repentance, Baptism and God will fill you with
the Holy Spirit. NOTICE
ALSO THAT GOD WILL COMPLETE THE THIRD STEP.

‘Then
Peter said unto them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.’”—Acts 2:38
(KJV)

Check.

Then,
I thought about the fact that for the frog to make his
transformation, he had to be submerged in water. I began to do some
follow-up on what water symbolizes in the Bible:

Purification: “Jesus
answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’”—John 8:35
(NKJV)

Truth: “Jesus
answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst
again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will
never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him
a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’”—John
4:13-14 (NKJV)

“Husbands,
love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the
washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
that she should be holy and without blemish.”—Ephesians 5:25-27
(NKJV)

Holy
Spirit
:
“For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry
ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on
your offspring…”—Isaiah 44:3 (NKJV)

Check.

And
then God led me to the lead scripture. When speaking of our
positions, I often refer to us as “Queens”, right? Queens are
married to kings, right? And what does Proverbs say? That God can
control A KING’S MIND as he controls a river. What is a river? A
certain flow of water. What else does the verse say? That God can
direct it as he pleases.

Checkmate!

This lil’ toy is a
biblical reminder of what God is doing in the lives of our future
kings…as we speak! OK, I know. I’ve addressed everything but the
original state of the toy. What does the frog symbolize in the Word?
You ready? Y’all ain’t ready (LOL). Well, one commentator explains it
to be this:

“The three most prominent characteristics of a
frog are pomposity, an air of superior wisdom and knowledge,and a
continual croaking. The teachings associated with frogs would be
doctrines of bombast and pomposity, an attempt to overawe with
dignity and assumed authority.”

Another wrote this:

“Well,
one more of the animals in the Bible, which looks so cute on a
picture, but is a symbol of something bad. The frog in the Bible has
been used as a representation of demon spirits – the spiritual
enemies of God. The book of Revelation 16:13 clearly states that the
evil spirits that the apostle John saw in a vision to come out of the
mouth of the dragon looked like frogs. These spirits had the mission
to go to different people on the earth and make them enemies of God
as well, just like they were. The good news, again, is that the book
of Revelation ends our complete victory over the dragon and all his
cohorts.”

Bottom line? Being a frog ain’t a good look. So
let’s break it all down:

1)A
frog symbolizes something (or one) that may be cute, but is
considered to be a spiritual enemy to God.

2)In this clear egg
which symbolizes “rebirth”, the frog is going to be submerged
into water.

3)Water symbolizes purification, truth and the
Holy Spirit.

4)For THREE DAYS, it will stay in the water.
Among many other things, three symbolizes God’s attributes, time and
repentance, baptism and God.

5)When the process is over, the
frog will emerge as a prince…as a priest…as the
earthly king
of our household.

And
what does God ultimately have to say about all that? According to
Proverbs 21:1, that he has the ultimate say so; that he can make the
king do what he wants when he wishes. I KNOW, RIGHT? That’s a lot of
revelation from a $2.99 toy. (LOL) But God is so
good…faithful…and consistently holding our hands during this
entire process. The truth is that some of us are eyeing a “frog”.
Some of us”have” a frog but we have yet to allow the water to “do
its thing”. Some of us are in the “72 hour” waiting process
(and really, what can do you do during that time, but wait?!?). Some
of us are starting to see a clear transformation. But the key to all
of this? WE HAVE TO WAIT IT OUT. For the “frog” to become the
“prince” that we so desire, I love what the message on the box
says: We don’t have to kiss the frog—EH HEM, the evil spirit—to
change him. That’s what fairytales teach us, but according to our
life manual,
“A
man who fears God deals with all of REALITY.”
(Ecclesiastes 7:18-Message)

OH…HE’S SO GOOD!!!

Personally?
Here’s the thing I love so much about the God that I serve: he’s so
thorough. Yesterday I picked up some “Frog to Prince” toys
to give away (be looking for that on my status updates), just to
serve as a tangible reminder. But when I went to visit a girlfriend
of mine today to get my “Happy Belated” birthday gift, one of the
things was an egg bracelet…another was some “collector stamps”
(of high significance) and the other? A box to hold my tiara in. MY
WEDDING HEADPIECE TIARA. Something I never said that I wanted, but
she believed I should have…TODAY.

God is amazing!

He’s
teaching me how to surrender the frog…

At the same time,
he’s preparing me…

So that when the prince has been
transformed…

I will be adorned…INSIDE AND
OUT.

Yeah…serving God? It’s AMAZING and I wouldn’t change it
for the world.

(laughs from the bottom of my
tummy!)

Amen…Selah…Amen.

©Shellie
R. Warren/2009