Before and After

I love makeovers! I love seeing something that is ugly, dirty, old, or outdated turn into something fresh, clean, and fully restored...no matter if it's a person, a house, a room, or an object. I like watching "Before" and "After" shows like What Not to Wear, Extreme Home Makeover, Clean Sweep, Trash to Treasure, Curb Appeal, and my personal favorite...The Biggest Loser! It's amazing to watch these people transform by forcing themselves into a disciplined environment....results like these are amazing to me...




This past week I took on the task of giving the restrooms at our church a makeover. David helped me paint the men's restroom a pale blue (which is much brighter than the dark tan color that it was). We hung some black and white photos and bought a little white cabinet to put in the corner to store extra paper towels and things. We had our good buddy, Jeremy install some new bright white baseboards to replace the rubber black ones that were there. The old bathroom looks brand new. Bright and clean.

I also took some time to spice up mine and David's blogs. By the way, if you are a worship leader or church planter and need some encouragement or some great ideas, visit my hubby's blog at http://www.worshipleaderledges.blogspot.com/.

I've thought a lot over the last few days about how the "Before" is not necessarily always ugly, but there's always room for improvement and the "After" is usually beautiful. I think that most of us who have lost a child (or any loved one for that matter) could agree that we view our life now as "Before" our loss and "After" our loss. I don't want my life "After" Noah's death to be ugly. I don't want it to be consumed with heartache and sorrow. Right now it feels as if there is this dark cloud hanging over everything. The things that I used to enjoy aren't as enjoyable. The thought of ever becoming pregnant again isn't something exciting and beautiful anymore, it's dark and scary. To have a little life that is growing inside you taken away and buried in the ground...well, it's just so hard to see past the emptiness. I feel like I need a total makeover...body, mind, spirit...the whole thing. My prayer is that God will use this tragedy of losing Noah to make me a better person and not a bitter person. That it would make me a better mom, a better wife, a better daughter, granddaughter, aunt, sister, and friend. I don't know how my "Before" looked, but I definitely want my "After" to be beautiful. I'm diving into God's word this week. I just need Him to fill me with his truth.

2 Corinthian 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!