beauty for ashes

"the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted ... to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified."
Isaiah 61:1&3

Jesus came to do all this. and daily He lives, doing this.

this week, i caught a brutal infection that totally destroyed my face. i went from looking like this:


to looking like this:


needless to say, i haven't felt very beautiful this week. in fact, i never feel very beautiful. but after looking like picture #2, i'm starting to have a whole new appreciation for the face in picture #1.
and that was a pretty cool thing for God to do for me.
but He went one better.
He gave me a husband who absolutely adores me, regardless of my face.
patrick has been off most of the week (he works all weekend) and it's been nice to spend so much time with him (in between nausea and trying not to scratch). we can't kiss or cuddle or do anything that might involve my face touching him, so we've spent lots of time at opposite ends of the couch, watching tv or just talking.
and he looks into my face, over and over again, smiles his awesome smile, and tells me i'm beautiful.
even though i look like picture #2.
i never expected that. i get nauseous just looking in the mirror - i pass out trying to put on the face cream the doctor prescribed, because touching this is so gross.

but patrick loves me - the inside me - regardless of how that is packaged. just like God.

patrick keeps teaching me about God. God keeps teaching me about patrick. and i love it.