Overwhelming Generosity

This may be a lengthy post, but you all know me: I am a chatterbox anyway. Last year our wonderful Growth Group leader and friend helped Deech put in some gravel next to our driveway. We had bought our house in the winter, with the lawn blanketed in fresh, beautiful snow. As the weather turned warm and the snow began to melt, we noticed that we had quite the backyard project on our hands. We had no yard to speak of...just a valley of weeds. We had known the house would come with some work and that was no problem since we both had full time jobs and no plans to extend our family any time soon. Enter God's will and timing here and you get a Liz, a stay-at-home mom and no way of fixing our yard in the near future. Now, insert gracious, loving church.
After our friend helped Richard with the gravel, he said God began to really lay on his heart to help us with our backyard (at least that's the story as I understand it). When he told us this, I was thrilled and thankful, but didn't understand why God would have cared about our yard of all things. But over the next year as all the donations of time and money began to pour into our backyard and it became a beautiful place for Liz to play, God began to work in my heart and answer my questions. Most of you know of my years of foolishness. The bad choices I made. I had been unwilling to accept God's forgiveness for that time. I was so ashamed. The silly thing is that this backyard makeover is what finally opened my eyes to Who God is and what He wanted to do for me. The day the sod went down, I wrote this in my journal:
June 20, 2008
" Oh LORD! You are so good to us! Right now there are three men (2 I've never even met before) in our backyard with Deech getting our yard ready for sod. Lord, I pray that You would pour out Your blessings on these men. And on the others that have helped. Lord, a yard is not a necessity. Especially in a world where the economy is getting so bad. But what a gift! What a joy that we'll be able to watch Liz play in our backyard! Please, God. I pray that my heart would learn to be content in all things. I thank You for this wonderful gift. I am reminded of Your grace today. Like this yard it is not deserved nor properly acknowledged. There is nothing I can do to repay You. I will never know how many details You have placed in my life to get me here. But here I am. Basking in Your grace. Drowned in Your mercy. What if we had told M: "No thank you; we like our goat heads." or "Our yard is too ugly, you can't possibly fix it." or "We're too embarrassed to let you in our house to see the weeds in the back."
Well, Lord, I do that so often with You:
"My sins are too many, but thanks anyway." "No, Lord, I don't want You to see..." "Actually, God, I like this sin..."I have and do say those things! But You, O God, are relentless! You love me anyway! You want to rotor till my heart, kill the weeds, lay sod, plant flowers and vegetables, trees and fruit. You want to create a patio, settle in and sip iced tea in the center of my life. You want to be in control. Only You can be! So, Lord, no more fighting. I am Yours. Dig up and throw out what You must. I am Yours. I am ready and willing to be made over if You are willing. I know You are able."
This week M returned and helped Deech finish a patio that we put in next to our existing one. The brick was all donated. Many men came to help, even more donated money and equipment. I wish I could thank them all individually. I don't even know who most of them are. They don't want a thank you. M was here the most and was the one gathering people and resources for this project. So, thank you, M, and all the others. Thank you for caring for our family and being a part of our lives. And thank you, K, and all the other women, for giving up time with your husbands. We appreciate and love you all so much.