Mud, Weeds, and . . . Beauty?

We moved to Hua Hin, Thailand as missionaries less than a month ago, and moved into a charming house with nice high ceilings and a small yard. A lot of homes in the area do not have any grass, so our yard is actually considered spacious. During the last few weeks we have had hot (up to 120 degrees in the sun) weather followed by periods of fairly hard - sometimes flood producing - rains daily. In front of the house that we are renting is a small muddy area that turns into a water filled mud pit as water cascades like a giant waterfall off our roof during the rain.

Well, my husband, Bill, looked at the mud pit (aka front yard) and saw the potential of a beautiful, tranquil garden area. He ordered 300 bricks and asked me to buy some flowers. On Saturday morning he got up and started digging out along the border of the mud pit and placed bricks in at an angle, creating a beautiful border. (We found out that Thai bricks are different than what we are used to. They are thinner, have a groove down the center and two holes that go through each brick vertically.) While I was out getting flowers, he designed and created a winding brick path through the mud pit. I was stunned how the much the mud pit had been transformed, and that was before a single flower had been added.

Bill then started planting the flowers in pots, and placing them inside the border around the garden. What a transformation!

Jonathan, our ten year old neighbor and son of our c o-workers, caught the vision and said he was doing a project in our garden. He worked and worked as we cleared debris from the yard. Jonathan called us over and proudly showed us his project. Here he had spelled out in decorative white stones “His Glory Runners” and he had placed a smiley face  below it.

I was stunned! You see, the Lord had placed the name “His Glory Runners” on our hearts after he had called us to be missionaries. Jonathan had seen it on our prayer card and thought it would be perfect in our garden. People can now look through our fence at our beautiful garden and see that we are “His Glory Runners”.

It is amazing to me how Bill looked at a mud pit and saw the potential of a beautiful lush garden.

Is that how the Lord looks at us? Instead of seeing flawed April, does He think “oh I can use April in showing the love of Jesus in wonderful, amazing ways that she cannot even imagine?”

I am so thankful Lord, that You blessed me with a husband who can look at waste land and see past the mud and the weeds, and see potential beauty.
Thank you Lord, that when You look at us, You see past our flaws and iniquities and see potential beauty in us.

Thank you Jesus!

By April