The Monarch Butterflies are in DANGER - they need OUR help

The monarch butterfly has been decreasing in numbers for the past several years primarily due to humans (pesticides, less landscape to find their food source, etc)

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come

We can help them by providing food and water. Monarch larvae feed primarily on milkweed so we need to plant some in our gardens and encourage others to do so as well. 

A great informative website is monarchwatch.org. These delicate creatures have an amazing life cycle were every fourth generation lives a longer life so they can travel from Canada down to Mexico! It's a little more complicated than that...but the point I am trying to make is simple; we created the decline in numbers and now we should be compelled to help in bringing them back!
 Pupa stage
                        Please plant some milkweed for them. Offer water in a bird bath, or upside down wine bottle - fill with water. The wine bottles can be a pretty border to your garden too!

Tagging to track them

 I believe God shows us the Monarch Butterfly as a testament to life after "death". The caterpillar is pretty yet looks totally different than the butterfly, had you not seen the caterpillar create this little pupa - and then watched it emerge - you would not know it was the same creature. 

After the caterpillar has eaten his fill, his 'body' changes to a pupa - and it appears as if the caterpillar is almost dead. It does not move for days and days...then one magical day - he comes out a butterfly. The butterfly looks, feels, and travels 100% different than he did just two weeks ago. 

This reminds me of our transformation. Others may believe we are perhaps dead - but we, like the butterfly, have just transformed into a totally different look and feel. 

If God will do this for a butterfly - why wouldn't he do it for YOU?

Life is Magical - Collecting Stories

I love how magical life can be, if we just take the time to notice. 

Once I was willing to tell others about seeing an angel, which was quite difficult; most began telling me amazing stories that they had experienced. I will not tell who said what...as I don't have their approval to post but I will say I have a collection of the most magical stories....

Psalms 91:11
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways

One friend was driving with her two children, taking her son to soccer practice. Her daughter, two years old, was in the back seat. As they passed a cemetery her daughter says, "My mommy and daddy are buried there."  Her mom, a little shocked at what her daughter just said, replies, "What? I am your mommy." Without any delay, her daughter says, "I KNOW, my OTHER mommy and daddy!" (Directly suggesting reincarnation is real and she remembered her parents from her previous life). 

I asked her what she did...I personally would have pulled into that cemetery and had her show me where they were, my curiosity would have gotten the better of me.... her response was, "Hell no, I've never driven on that road again!" [If your child said this to you....What would you have done?]

Another dear friend, who was very close to her grandmother - so close they talked almost daily - saw her grandmother after she passed away! She was quite sad, crying and sleeping on the sofa at her grandma's home the day the day after her grandmother had died. She was having a terrible time accepting she would not be seeing or talking to her grandmother any longer. Her grandmother, dressed in an all white, beautiful, flowing dress, walked towards her and then stood in front of her with a serene look on her face. My friend said to her grandmother, "I see you and I know you will be waiting for me when it is my time, but please don't come to me again."  She explained to me that she KNOWS that she will be greeted by her family, and did not need them to be with her now. [I love her KNOWING without a doubt they WILL BE there, she knows where she is going after she dies.]

Another friend had a reoccurring dream that she would be killed driving on this snow covered, dangerous road that was a main road from her family home. So she did everything she could to avoid that road. One day, after her father had passed away, due to weather she was forced to travel the road. She was terrified, her heart was racing, palms sweating - she should just return to her mothers home, but had to work the next day - so wanted to be at her home that night. She decided that perhaps driving in the center would be safer, than on the cliff side of the road. She travelled down the road a while, and then a beautiful blue light appeared in front of her vehicle. She was drawn to follow the light, which 'pulled' towards the right hand side of the highway. Immediately a big rig came barreling down the center divider - narrowly missing her! She KNEW this was her father...protecting her. 

And finally, a retired police officer was parked on a hill up from a main road late at night. She saw a car speeding past the street she was on, so put her car into geer and pushed on the gas. As she was about to turn on to the street the racing car had just flown past - she felt two strong hands push/shove her back into her seat! She slammed on her breaks...that freaked her out in some way - but felt her father there. Shortly there after she hears on the radio the first officer at the scene had been fatally shot. She KNEW her father protected her that day.

These are just a few of the stories I have been collecting. I would like to write a book with all the stories I have....what have you encountered that you could not explain? Have you ever spoken to your close friends about things like this? What have they encountered?