Life Lessons: When God Speaks in Unexpected Ways

 Several years ago-- about 5 years ago to be exact, my daughter went to a youth group lock-in at the

church. About 3 hours after arriving we got a phone call and she asked if I could come pick up her FISH!!  WHAT??!!?? Apparantly the youth pastor had taken the kids on a scavenger hunt at the mall and one of the items to collect was a FISH!! (Kids should not be sent to church and come home with pets! That was never in any of my youth ministry classes at Bible School!)  But I digress...I went to pick up my daughter's new pet fish and the last thing she daid to me was very CLEAR--"Mom, don't kill my fish!".   The
fish survived 12 hours in my care...unknowingly, I killed her fish.

So fast forward 5 years and you can imagine my shock and horror when she asked us to babysit her hermit crabs (named after two mythological sea monsters with names I cannot even pronounce!) My husband came home and informed me our new responsibility to Laura's hermit crabs.... and ALL I could hear in my mind was "Mom, don't kill my fish!"  I'll never forget the life lessons I learned from that time I kept Laura's fish, so I began to pray - because honestly-- have you seen hermit crabs? THEY CREEP ME OUT!!! They look like a walking shell with tarantula legs! (shiver and shudder!!).

So with the honest pray to God to teach me something in this experience, I began to embrace this new challenge before me.

LOVE THE UNLOVEABLE

As I began to think just how hideous these creatures were to me and how deeply they creeped me out, there were deep moments of conviction where God gently whispered in that still small voice, "The sin in your life is that hideous to me. Are you not grateful for the blood of Christ and the gift of grace I have given you that allows me to love you while you are yet a sinner?"

Well...OUCH!!    God brought several bible passages to my heart and mind:

Matthew 5:43-48New International Version (NIV)

Love for Enemies

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Least of These - Matthew 25:40

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Ok-- just be patient with me for a minute. I've had enough theological training enough to know that "the least of these" were referring to fellow Christians in various stages of life trials and not hermit crabs, but God used this verse for me as an analogy of how I interact with people in general; and these hermit crabs could teach me something.

Over the next few days I spent countless hours just watching and observing these little creatures. I began to read up on their environments and habitats, feeding habits and more. The more I learned about these little creatures the more I found I began to have an affection for them. Seeking understanding about them and their environments made them very fascinating to me!

When I got them home they were in a cage that was too small for the 2 critters. I learned they needed two bowls of water-- fresh water and salt water. I learned they needed a very humid and warm habitat. I even learned that they molt!  So the journey bagan! We bought a 10 gallon aquarium for the hermit crabs. We added the proper sand and climbing obstacles because they are climbers! It was almost instantaneous how playful and animated these hermit crabs became in the right environment!  I even learned that although they are called "hermit" crabs they really are very social creatures!  So now we had a much larger  tank for them to play and roam-- the two looked almost lonely in the larger environment....so off I went to the store to buy them a new roommate!  Ys, our little hermit crab family was growing and thriving! I began to feel very proud of my accomplishment with them... and then it happened!!

Joshua came to my room with an urgent sound in his voice, "Mom! You need to go look at the crab. I think it's DEAD!!!!"  In that moment, it was like the world stopped moving in it's orbit and a loud ominous voice rang out as if to haunt me, "Mom, don't kill my fish!!"  

I was not at all prepared for what I saw. After careful observation I remembered what I had read about MOLTING!! It was still very disgusting to me!  I looked at this helpless little critter who looked like he completely fell out of his shell and there was a gelatin-like peace of goo next to what looked like crab body parts.  Had I not read up on hermit crab molting habits I would have been very convinced my little critter friend was DEAD. 

I learned that molting for a crab is the most stressful and vulnerable time of its life. Joshua was absolutely beyond disgusted and kept saying it was dead! I swear, it was almost as if the therapist rose up and me and asked firmly for Joshua to step away from the crab. There was a momentary rush of empathy to protect this creature that was facing its life's biggest crisis.  This is the time where crabs will either live or die-- in how they handle their molting and if the environment is conducive for a safe molt. Mamma bear in me came out to protect this little critter. I simply could not bear to let my daughter down if her crab died on my watch!

This time of molting has brought about many more careful hours of observation on my part. Everything I have read has told me to not handle, disturb in any way, but to only maintain the humid environment.  I observe this hardened little exoskeleton just laying there looking like my critter friend died, but knowing that he is not really dead-- even though there is no visual evidence of anything that looks like a living creature. They go into hybernation when they molt and it can be 2-3 MONTHS before they wake up with a new shell! 

I have a flood of emotions as I look at my dear critter friend who is in such a vital life transformation, and once again, I hear God's still small voice... "It may be painful, and it may be hard, but sometimes brokenness is the only way to GROW HEALTHY again." As I looked at my critter friend his body was definitely broken-- broken by God's design. God created these creatures to shed their hardened exoskeletons about once every 12-18 months so that can live to grow more.

Now that will preach!  I am reminded of a song by Avalon....it has a powerful lyric about the crucifixion. It states "the beauty of the body that was broken for my forgiveness...."

I see this very often in my counseling office. I count it as a holy privilege when people invite me into their brokeness and ask me to help them live life again... it is a sacred I trust I guard with my whole heart.  In return God gives me the gift of seeing brokenness lead to LIFE-- and life abundantly on almost a daily basis.  Jesus tells us that to follow Him we must die to ourselves, take up our cross.

What things in our lives (your life too) do we need to surrender to brokenness? I often find that most people cling to the very things that are killing them.  If my little critter friend had refused to molt and be broken to the life he knew then he would have no hope for every growing and living a healthy life.

I am grateful that God takes the time to reveal himself to me in the most  amazing ways that I never would have expected.  So at one time it was the death of a fish, another time it was a great spiritual life lesson from BLUEBERRIES, and today--  it is my little hermit crab family.

I hope you will enjoy following the journey with me!