Butterfly Showers

This blog is a tribute to my dear friend, Sandy, who died of a massive heart attack Friday evening. All of us who are left here, mourn her passing, but I can imagine her big smile lighting up whatever corner of heaven she finds herself—and enjoying butterflies.

Sandy shared this story with our Sunday School class several years ago. It’s about God’s miracle of butterflies in her life. She gave me permission to revise it slightly and submit it to Guideposts. They didn’t buy it, so now I am free to share Sandy’s story of  “Butterfly Showers.”

It is a 300+ mile trip from Reno to Elko, Nevada and I was driving it alone.  I had been told that morning an angiogram revealed an aneurysm and I needed open-heart surgery.  The fear and uncertainty of that diagnosis finally got the best of me when I reached Emigrant Pass (still an hour from home) and I began literally crying out to God.

I began hearing bug-splats against the windshield and through my tears, I saw that they were butterflies.  (I love butterflies.  They are uniquely beautiful and they furnish such a graphic picture of transformation as the worm becomes butterfly—just as a sinner can become a child of God). 

There were hundreds and then thousands of butterflies – A BUTTEFLY SHOWER!  God showed me His presence on that mountain pass.  My tears were replaced with His peace and His presence was manifested through those butterflies.  His grace, peace, and healing remained with me from then on, and I came through the surgery, recovering in record time.

However, that is not the end of the story.  Within a year’s time, my husband, Jim, had become seriously ill and was in intensive care with septic shock.  The doctors were having great difficulty coming up with a definitive diagnosis and they couldn’t determine or agree conclusively about what was causing him to be so ill.

On the second day of his hospital stay, I had gone home briefly and was on my way back, over the Lamoille Summit, when again, I cried out to God, telling Him that I was scared and didn’t have any peace.

I said, “Lord, a butterfly shower sure would be nice…”  After I said it, I thought, “That was dumb!  How arrogant of me to ask for that special blessing again!”  When I got back to Jim’s room, I began looking through all the  books and cards his visitors had left.  I was overwhelmed as I realized that most of the Get Well cards had butterflies on them.  Truly, A BUTTERFLY SHOWER!

Isn’t God good!

Compared to those of us left behind, Sandy now totally understands all that metamorphosis means-- what a butterfly is compared to the caterpillar it once was. I miss you, my friend, but oh, what a glorious “butterfly” you have become!