Giving Birth

 

 

I dreamed that I have just given birth to a baby girl. I feel fine, not tired or sore as would be normal after labor and delivery, as if someone else did all the work.

I haven’t seen her yet, but the nurses assure me that she is beautiful and perfect, and they show me pictures. One is a photo of a beautiful young woman, with soft, blonde wavy hair framing her face like a halo, wearing light makeup that looks very natural and enhances her symmetrical features. The other is a pencil sketch, with a map or diagram across her forehead showing different facets of her personality and where they reside in her brain.

I’m surprised by the pictures, as she appears full grown rather than newborn, and I long to see her right away. My husband and son are in the room and I call out to them, “Let’s go see her – everybody wash your hands!”

But the nurses say they are still working on her, and she’s not ready for us to see her yet.

When I awoke from the dream, it was with a sense of longing to see this new creation that was part of me. I realized that the girl in the dream represented the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15) that I am in Christ, now that I am born again (John 3:3-8) by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven.

The Bible speaks of the newly saved Christian as a babe in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1), first needing the spiritual nourishment of the sincere milk of the Word (Hebrews 5:13; 1 Peter 2:2), or its simple yet perfect truths of salvation through faith by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Just as we do not and cannot work for our salvation, for all our own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), I experienced no labor in the dream, and hence no fatigue, for Jesus Christ Himself accomplished all the work (Isaiah 64:6) needed for my spiritual rebirth. He paid the price in full for my sin debt through His shed blood on the cross (Romans 3:25).

At the moment we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we are not only born again (John 3:3-8), but justified through His righteousness, which is credited to our account (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:16-18). When God the Father looks at us from that moment on, He no longer sees our sins, but only the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. All our sins are debited to His account, and His perfect standing and inheritance of eternal life in Heaven are credited to our account (Romans 8:17).

This is known as positional justification. Were we to die moments after being saved, we would immediately go to Heaven, like the thief who accepted Christ in his dying moments on the cross, even though there was no time for him to be baptized, attend church, read Scripture, or do any good works in the Name of Jesus (Luke 23:42-43).

A newborn is not expected to remain in the nursery for long, but to grow and mature into an adult, each with their own personality, attributes, and responsibilities. After we are born again, we are to mature in our Christian walk, being fed with more challenging portions of “meat” from God’s Word (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12) and becoming more like Christ each day (1 Corinthians 1:30).

This process of progressive sanctification was symbolized in my dream by the “newborn” pictures actually resembling a young adult, with a beautiful face and “brain map” indicating a complex personality, both of which God Himself fashioned since before the beginning of time (Psalm 139:14-16).

In the dream, I shared my desire to see this new creation with my family and wanted them to see her too, but I also wanted us all to wash our hands first, symbolizing the spiritual cleansing that takes place through the washing of the water of God’s Word (Ephesians 5:26).

Sadly, we were not yet allowed to see her, reflecting that the ultimate expression of God’s new creation in each believer will be our glorified body that He gives us at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:42-58). At that time, we will experience eternal glorification. We will know Him and one another perfectly, as we ourselves are now known by Him. We will live forever in our glorified body that will never age, sin, die, or experience illness, sorrow, or pain.

But in the meantime, full understanding of Jesus Christ, of Heaven and of what we will be like eternally eludes our grasp, for we still see as through a glass, darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In Bible times when the apostle Paul penned these words, glass was not clear, flat and free of impurities as window glass is today, but was cloudy, wavy and distorted. You might be able to tell that someone was passing by your window, but you wouldn’t be able to recognize or describe them. Such is our present view of the glories of Heaven that await us, and of our eternal companions, the saints in light!

The dream reminded me of how I long for the Rapture, for Christ to come again, and for my aging body to be transformed into a glorified body, to live forever with Him and my loved ones in Him in the abundant joy and perfect peace of Heaven. But no man knows the day or hour when that will occur (Mark 13:32), and we can rest assured that God’s timing is always perfect.

Meanwhile, once we are born again, may we continue in our Christian walk to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ until that glorious day when we see Him face to face!

© 2022 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the arch

Beautiful In Its Time

                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Photo by Laurie Collett 2026

On the day before Easter, my husband Richard and I left the house early in the morning, as we needed to prepare for an Egg Hunt that afternoon and Resurrection Sunday service the next day. Both were a new adventure for us in our new church and had awakened feelings of excitement, anticipation, and gratitude, along with some stress and anxiety about how these would turn out.

After all, we were new at church planting and administration, and the Egg Hunt had just been planned a few days earlier when our new Children’s Ministry leader announced she would like to organize it even on such short notice. But we had faith that God’s strength would be made perfect in our weakness and that His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). Without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5), but with Him, all things are possible! (Matthew 19:26).

As Richard locked the door and I began walking toward the car, I stopped in my tracks, crying “Wow!” in amazement. In a small garden bed along the walkway, occupied mostly by greenery planted by our home’s previous resident, a stunningly beautiful flower had appeared from nowhere.

“That wasn’t here last night when I came home,” Richard said, scratching his head in bewilderment.

This gorgeous creation was not just a blossom that had drifted in on the wind, but a fully grown lily plant, rooted in the soil, its firm, green stalk over two feet tall. A single, trumpet-shaped flower had opened fully, in sunrise tones of pink and pale coral with hints of lavender. Over the next few days, three buds also bloomed, with the four bell-shaped lilies forming the shape of a cross!

I am always blessed when God speaks to us through His creation (Psalm 19:1), as He did here! The colors and cross-shape of the plant that mysteriously appeared reminded me of the cross against the sunrise background that is featured on our New Life Bible Church Tampa website. It was as if God was reassuring us that He is with us, leading the way (Proverbs 3:6; 16:9) on every step of this journey of faith as we obey Him in opening a new church!

As we prepared the grounds for the Egg Hunt, we were delighted to see two orange butterflies, also like those pictured on the website, hovering over the area, as if God were consecrating this space for His purpose!

The Egg Hunt and Resurrection Sunday service proved that God answered our prayers exceeding abundantly beyond what we could imagine or hope for (Ephesians 3:20), not only in the events' attendance, but in the faithful presentation of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection through His Word, from the pulpit, in song, and in the children’s lessons (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). One three-year old at the Egg Hunt listened in awe as the events of Holy Week were explained, and then asked, “You mean they killed Jesus?”

So where did the lily come from? We realized that unlike a seed that could be carried from anywhere by a bird, this plant must have grown from a large bulb. Flower bulbs do reproduce and spread in the ground, but there was no similar plant in any of our neighbors’ yards, nor were their gardens close enough for such spread to have occurred.

Finally I remembered that about 7 years ago, on Valentine’s Day, Richard had given me an amaryllis bulb. He planted it outside and assured me that it would soon look like the lovely picture on the carton. “Cut flowers die quickly, so I thought this would be better,” he explained.

I remember being a little disgruntled at the time, thinking that other women got beautiful, fragrant bouquets, and all I got was a dirty, ugly bulb that looked like a hybrid of a potato and an onion!

But God knew better, and His Spirit must have led Richard to the perfect gift that would provide exactly the reassurance, confirmation, and beauty we would need seven years later, exactly when He knew we would need it! There was indeed a time to plant, and a time to enjoy that which was planted, even though we would never dream of plucking it up! (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

What an apt metaphor He gave us of how the years of preparation, experience and training in various churches, not always pleasant or fulfilling, would one day culminate in His new creation of a church! (2 Corinthians 5:17). He knew His plan for us since before the beginning of time (Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:10), even though we had no inkling of it until He was ready to reveal it to us in His perfect timing! (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

As He transforms a drab, lifeless bulb into a glorious symbol of His resurrection, so He can take our trials, struggles, heartache and disappointments and fashion them according to His new purpose. But like the bulb, we must die to self (1 Corinthians 15:31) before His Spirit can transform our heart and let it blossom into a vessel suited for His use!

Praise God that He creates beauty from ashes, planting us as trees of righteousness, to His glory! (Isaiah 61:3), Praise God that He makes everything beautiful in its time! (Ecclesiastes 3:11). May we always yield to His perfect will and wait on His perfect timing!

Copyright 2026 Laurie Collett

Salvation's Mysteries

 

As I reflect on God’s unspeakable gift of eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son, I am utterly undone by His love. My mind cannot begin to comprehend what He has done, or how or why. The paradox is not only in the cross, but in all aspects of His awesome salvation plan. 

These thoughts inspired the poem below, which is a repost from April 2013. May all of you have a blessed Resurrection Sunday reflecting on the mysteries of His amazing grace! Praise God that Christ is risen indeed! Trust in Him and live forever!

Hebrews 12:2; John 13:12-17; Revelation 20:4; 17:14; 19:16; Colossians 1:12-22; 1 Corinthians 15; 1:27; John 10:17; 1:3; 3:3-8, 16; 16:28;  1 John 3:16; Isaiah 53; 1:18; 55:9; Romans 5-6; 12:2;  2 Corinthians 5:19-20; 1 Peter 5:5-6; Matthew 19:30; 20:16; 18:3-4; Luke 9:24; 17:33; Ephesians 2:5-9

Salvation’s Mysteries

Jesus Christ was born to die

Endured the cross to feel the joy

Of saving sinners who were lost. 
Jesus served so we could reign

Laid down His life to rise again.

Maker of all, the King of Kings

A lowly worm crushed by our sins. 
The cruel thorns, the ugly scars

Reveal the beauty of His heart.

His blood-soaked cross made peace with God

His holiness removed our sins --

Washed white as snow in His shed blood

Reconciled our souls to Him.

He loved us despite our hate

He forgave while we rebelled

The Lord bowed down to take our shame

He gave all for our great gain.

His ways are not our ways.

His thoughts are not our thoughts.

If cast down, He will raise us up.

If we are last, we will be first.

We die to sin to be reborn

We lose our life to save our soul

We leave the world to live in Him

He died and rose so we can live.

Foolish things confound the wise

You can’t earn your way to Paradise.

Let Truth win out – think like a child.

Turn to Him – forsake your pride.

Trust in Him with childlike faith

Accept His precious gift of grace.

That moment seals your destiny.

You’ll live with Him eternally.

© 2013 Laurie Collett