Before and After

Cinderella, Moses, and Trading Spaces
Weight watcher scales with smiling faces
What Not to Wear and A Makeover Story
The blooming of a Morning Glory
a tearful mom gets a brand new kitchen
on Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Joseph from the pit to the throne
a lump of coal to a precious stone
desert to paradise and beauty from ruin
hopelessness until You come in
an art easel and my daughter's hand
the Isrealites reach the promised land
makeovers have always pulled me in
perhaps because of who I've been
before You picked up this lump of clay
when life seemed just a shadow play
thank You for helping us make a house a home
and a barefoot yard for Lauren to roam
the master artist of all things new
and for creating us in the image of You
so we too can use our minds and hands
to evoke beauty in limited circumstance
for changing our mourning into laughter
for all Your glory in the befores and afters


"That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country." Romans 6:3-5(MSG)