Moldova is full of stories, colorful scenes begging me to write.  I feel like an artist with a palette overfilled with colors, wondering which to apply to the canvas first.

Do I write about the grandma that walks her three goats to the field each morning?
Do I write about the coffin I spotted tied to the roof of a car?
Or should I share about the snow-white cloud of cherry blossoms that envelop our windows each spring?

I considered painting the scene of Aliona, a young woman slowly being transformed by God’s love. I suddenly realized that I was not painting a word-picture of God’s grace, but I was witnessing God’s artistic work as He painted atop a canvas many thought worthless.  I was a mere spectator to the true painter.

When Aliona first came to the Home of Hope, her life was like a mangled canvas, smeared with ugly, dark streaks of paint.  The abuse of her childhood, hours on the street, and unspeakable trauma had covered the canvas of her life with black scars.

Yet something is happening in her life.  I am witnessing how God salvages a damaged canvas, painting on top of layers of hurt and sin.  Weekly I see splashes of color appearing in her life, points of transformation.  As she smiled yesterday, revealing teeth that are being repaired, I witnessed the color of joy appear on her face.  I’ve seen paint strokes of peace being slowly applied to her life, so noticeable in contrast to the dark layers of her past.

God’s love is slowly repainting her life into something beautiful.  The Master is creating her life into a masterpiece, colorful and vibrant, though there are still segments of black showing through the color.

I am amazed how Jesus is able to take the brokenness of our past and create beauty by painting on top of our scars, covering them with colors of love, joy, peace, and forgiveness.  Yet I want to see more of God’s artistry.

I want to see the loneliness of Danny repainted to a masterpiece of belonging.
I want to see the hardness of Dima repainted to a painting of joy and gentleness.
I want to see our churches, our Teen Challenge and our elderly home continue to be studios of the Artist, where individual lives are transformed from ugliness to masterpieces.

My prayer is that God can use our family to be instruments of change, repainting lives so they may be full of color and beauty.  He is certainly continuing repainting my life into a scene I do not deserve.

Don’t regret what the canvas of your life currently looks like, no matter the damage or ugliness.  God is willing and able to transform it a masterpiece better than found in any museum.

“Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons!”       2 Cor. 5:17, The Message

Being transformed in Moldova,
Andy Raatz