3 Gifts Ugly-Beautiful

-Exercise:  I dread it beforehand, I don't really enjoy it during, and I'm quite certain I look very, very ugly as I run or bike or lift.  But the effects are very beautiful.  I feel better.  I have more energy.  I am healthier and I even wear the same size jeans as when I was first married.

-Childbirth:  It's hard and it hurts.  A very private area is exposed and, quite frankly, looks worse than it ever has.  The baby comes out all messy and screaming.  But, oh the beauty.  If I could bottle that moment and relive it over and over, I would be drunk on the beauty of it.

-My life: I have made some very poor choices and have sinned a million times over.  I have experienced hurts and fear and loneliness.  When I look at all that and focus in on just that, it is ugly and painful.  I heard a speaker describe it like a tapestry.  When we experience life with all its twists and turns and failures and hurts, it looks like a jumbled up mess with no sense at all - the back of the tapestry.  But from God's perspective - the front of tapestry - he sees the beauty and intricacy and design of all those twists and turns.  Beautiful.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,

give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God

in Christ Jesus for you.