In this episode, Nina shares a powerful, Spirit-led message about what it means when God goes beyond surface-level change and begins removing things at the root. Through a deeply personal story and a striking real-life metaphor, you’ll begin to see that some of the things we lose are actually God’s love in action.

If you’ve been holding onto something that feels like it’s slipping away…

If you’ve been confused by what God is doing in your life…

Or if you’re sensing a shift but don’t fully understand it yet…

This message will meet you right there.

Because sometimes what God removes is directly connected to where He’s taking you.

📖 Order Nina’s book From Broken to Butterfly on Amazon

💌 Contact Nina at ninapajonas@gmail.com today!

The Lord can turn your wounds into wings—you were Born to be a Butterfly! 🦋

Born to be a Butterfly © 2026 Nina Pajonas All rights reserved. The content of this podcast is for informational and inspirational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. For the full disclaimer, visit ⁠ninapajonas.com.

Welcome to Born to be a Butterfly,

where we embrace healing and growth in Christ to experience true transformation.

My name is Nina Pajonis, and I pray that today's message ministers to you.

The Lord gave me this message over the course of several weeks.

It's about what happens when God goes straight past the surface and goes right after the root of things in your life.

It's not just pruning things.

It's not just fixing things.

It's about God removing things.

Because there are seasons where God won't repair what's broken.

Instead he will replace it.

And if you don't understand what he is doing,

you will fight to keep what he is trying to remove.

So let's talk about it.

A few weeks ago my parents mentioned that they were getting new grass.

They had been having trouble with their lawn for years.

It had been dying and every company they used promised to fix it and to make it grow.

But nothing ever worked.

It just kept looking worse and worse.

So my mother finally got fed up.

My parents decided to call a company that our neighbors use because their lawn looks great.

But when the landscaper came out to examine the lawn,

they concluded that they had to kill the existing grass first.

They had to spray a treatment on the lawn that would kill it at its roots.

They couldn't just lay down new grass on top of it because it would wind up getting ruined by the old grass.

When my father told me what they said and what they were going to do, I thought to myself,

well, isn't that interesting?

They have to kill it at the root.

And if that wasn't enough,

after they did that,

they had to excavate the land.

They had to remove the old soil with the roots in it and lay down sod with new grass in its place.

The good news is that the new grass is resistant to insects,

including the cinch bugs.

The insects can't thrive in the new grass environment.

The problem was embedded within the roots.

It wasn't healthy and it was never going to be healthy.

So when I heard that,

I immediately thought,

the Lord has been steadily killing roots in my life,

people,

places and things that always attracted destruction.

And the metaphor he was using was my parents grass.

Their grass had been like that for about two to three years.

And that timeline,

ironically enough,

coincides with a lot of the loss that I experienced in my own life.

I say this all to say that I believe the Lord was telling me that he had to kill those things off because he didn't want me to bring them into the new land that he has for me.

And I feel this is a word for all of us.

Even if you don't find yourself in this season right now,

one day you will.

And when you do, I want you to recognize the signs so that you move forward in faith and with confidence in where the Lord is trying to take you.

But let me continue with the story,

because the Lord revealed even more to me.

After the company laid down the new grass,

they said it was crucial that we water the lawn every day.

So my mother went out and got some sprinklers.

But after a few days of using them, she still didn't think they were watering the lawn properly.

There were a few sections that weren't as green as the rest,

and she was getting really concerned.

She was also getting frustrated again because she couldn't get the water everywhere she wanted it.

So there were still patches of grass that weren't getting the water they needed.

That's when I heard the Lord tell me through the Holy Spirit,

you need to walk on the land and bless it.

So I did.

I walked back and forth along the side of the house,

and I said,

lord,

please bless this land,

make it grow in a mighty way.

I know I said a few other things, but I can't remember what now because it all came pouring out of me by the way of the Holy Spirit.

Then later that day,

it started to rain.

For three days it rained,

but not all day and not very hard.

It was a steady rain with periodic sunshine.

It wasn't too much of either thing.

It was just enough.

Those dry spots on the lawn got exactly what they needed,

and so did the rest of the lawn.

And I can say that because after three days,

the grass was vibrant green,

like something you'd see on a baseball field or a golf course.

And when the company that did the work sent someone out to inspect it,

the guy said,

I have never seen grass take root this fast.

As soon as he said that,

I knew that the Lord had blessed our land.

And this is the message that I believe he was trying to convey.

You won't recognize that you're standing in new land until it begins to respond to you differently.

And you won't understand your authority until you feel that shift.

God will not allow you to remain planted in ground that has been corrupted.

He will lead you into a new land,

land that is rooted in faith,

sustained by his hand,

and aligned with his will.

Sometimes we have to acknowledge when something is dying,

and we have to understand that it's part of the process of rebirth.

I know that there can be Immense grief attached to something ending.

Trust me,

I get it.

But we must realize and accept when things are noticeably dying off.

Sometimes we're so fearful of moving forward into the future that we stay stuck in a past that is dying right beneath our feet.

If you remain rooted in what God doesn't want for you anymore,

nothing is going to grow.

Anything you try to grow there will die there with you.

Because as you stay there longer and longer,

you will die spiritually too,

and we do not have to look any further then John 15,

verse 2 and 5 to read what Jesus says to the disciples about it.

He says,

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

I am the vine,

you are the branches.

If you remain in me and I in you,

you will bear much fruit apart from me.

You can do nothing.

And I read that because this is where we get confused.

Sometimes we've been somewhere so long that we forget our spiritual growth comes from God.

The fruits of the Spirit are just that.

They're fruits of the Holy Spirit.

The favor comes from our Father in heaven and from His Son,

our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

All of these things will find you everywhere you go,

as long as you are following the Lord your God.

Trust me when I say I understand the hardship of leaving behind all that you knew and all that was familiar.

I've done a lot of it myself.

Within the last couple of years,

I have left the ministry that I helped to build at my former church,

and I also wound up leaving the church itself.

In fact, when the Lord wanted me to leave the ministry,

he gave me a vision. And when he wanted me to leave the church a year later,

he gave me another one.

Both were very upsetting to me, but they were undeniable.

I knew I had to obey.

Soon after I left,

the Lord led me to start this podcast,

and about six months later he put it on my heart to begin working on his second book.

The transition was exceedingly difficult,

especially at the beginning,

but he has kept me very busy.

But understand this,

even as busy as I have been,

there were still many nights I cried out to the Lord about how much it hurt and even about how unfair I felt it all was.

Yet over time,

I have come to realize how necessary it was.

What surprised me the most was how much it deepened my relationship with the Lord more than I ever thought possible,

because it was in the wilderness that he taught me A new level of trust and a deeper surrender.

That is how the Lord changes us.

That is how he changes the desires of our hearts.

When everything and everyone else leaves,

we finally realize that what remains is all that matters.

When all you have is Christ,

you come to understand that all you need is Christ.

And from that space our love deepens and strengthens.

The more we die to self, the more we live in Christ and the more we want to live for Christ.

It is a beautiful progression of love because we learn to love unconditionally.

Just as the Lord loves us,

he does not love us based on our condition,

so we cannot love him based on our circumstances.

The Lord doesn't only love us when we are being good,

so we must love him even when life doesn't feel good,

even when it doesn't feel right,

even when we don't feel like our best selves.

Because our worship is not based on how we feel.

It is based on who he is.

And he is always worthy.

Always.

Hear me clearly and listen closely,

sister,

because what I'm going to ask is very important.

Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart,

all your soul, and all your mind?

I want you to really think about that.

Don't respond yes just because you feel you have to search deep within and answer honestly.

I'm asking you a question that I needed to ask myself years ago,

when things in my life weren't going the way I wanted them to.

I didn't realize at the time that my sense of entitlement had created distance between me and the Lord.

The Lord had saved me from so much,

but I felt like he hadn't given me the one thing that I wanted more than any other,

and that was a husband.

I always wanted to be married, and I never got married. And when I was sober,

finally,

I thought it would be one of the first things that God gave me.

So when it wasn't,

I got angry. And without even realizing it,

I was withholding parts of myself from Him.

I will never forget the moment that the Lord convicted me about this through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I cried hysterically when I realized that I had placed conditions on my love for the Lord.

Once he brought that to my attention,

I repented immediately.

I also apologized profusely.

But I was also incredibly grateful.

Because in that moment,

the Lord taught me something I will never forget about love.

And that is what I'm earnestly trying to share with you today.

If we love the Lord with all of us,

with all of our heart,

all of our soul,

and all of our minds,

then we are called to love him above all else.

Nothing and no one should come before Him.

And when we make every decision from that place,

we won't just make the right choices.

We will make God honoring choices.

Then when the time comes,

we will leave.

When the Lord tells us to leave,

we will go where he wants us to go.

And we will do what he calls us to do.

But in order to do any of that,

we must first recognize the signs of a new season.

We have to recognize the call into a new land.

And we have to know that when God is removing something at the root,

he's not asking for permission.

He's asking for obedience.

Because if he has to kill it to free you from was never meant to go where you are going.

And you can keep trying to revive what he has already ended,

or you can walk into what he's already prepared.

But you cannot do both.

And now I'm going to ask you a couple of questions.

1.

What in your life have you been trying to hold on to or revive,

even though God is clearly removing it at the root?

2.

Are you willing to trust God enough to walk fully into the new season he's calling you into,

even if it means letting go of what once felt safe and familiar?

Let's pray.

Lord,

we come before you with an open heart.

Please give us the courage to let go of what is no longer from you,

even if it once was,

even if we loved it,

even if we became comfortable in it.

Lord, uproot anything in our lives that is not aligned with your will.

Anything that is diseased at the root, remove it completely.

Prepare our hearts for the new ground you are calling us into.

Teach us to trust you in the transition,

to trust you in the unknown,

and to trust that what yout are building is better than anything we are trying to hold onto.

Keep us from going back to what yout have already delivered us from.

Strengthen us to walk forward in obedience.

And Lord,

when we step into this new season,

please cover us,

guide us,

and establish us.

Let our lives reflect your goodness,

your faithfulness,

and your perfect will.

Let what you plant in our lives take root deeply, and may it grow abundantly.

In the mighty and matchless name of of Jesus Christ,

we pray.

Amen.

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If you would like me to pray for you,

or if you would like to connect,

you could reach out to me on Facebook or on Instagram.

Born to be a Butterfly.

You can also email me@ninapajonasmail.com the link to my email is in my episode description.

Until next time.

Remember,

healing is holy.

Transformation is possible.

The Lord can turn your wounds into wings.

You were born to be a butterfly.