Amazing beauty..

...from unspeakable ugliness.

The Lord is amazing. Do you know that? I mean do you truly know that?

We go thru our lives & we think we know how things should go. We think we know what should happen & when. And when things don't go our way; when tragedy strikes we wonder "Why me Lord? Why me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Sometimes what happens to us has nothing to do with us. It is a means to an end. Sometimes a horrible, unspeakable nightmare has to happen for a dream to come true.

Last weekend was the memorial service for an amazing woman. She was one of those women who made you feel special. Made you feel loved, whether you had known her 20 minutes or 20 years. The kind of woman who had standing room only at her funeral. The kind of woman whose love of Jesus showed in her face. The kind of woman we all aspire to be.

This lovely woman was brought into this world through hatred & violence. She was a product of rape.

Her mother was a teenager when she was attacked & became pregnant. She put the baby up for adoption. The baby was adopted by a couple who loved her & raised her in a Christian home. She grew up, married & had 2 children. She was a grandma to 4( almost 5). She was friend to many. Too many to list. She was a cherished wife who always put her husband first. She was an amazing mom & grandma. Always there for her daughter. I rarely saw them apart. She touched the lives of everyone who knew her. I know, for me, she just always made me feel loved. She always had a hug & a kiss. Always asked about me & my family. Always had an encouraging word. That is what she was: an encourager. She was just beautiful.

And to think, all of that beauty, all of that love & encouragement, came from something so ugly. So hateful & wicked.

We will never understand His ways. His ways are not our ways. But God doesn't make mistakes. And God can redeem any situation.

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."  Genesis 50:20

Blessings.