Dear Daughter age 11 took this photo the other day. The fact it was actually growing in my flower bed is utterly amazing as I certainly don't have a green thumb. Looking at this beautiful picture reminded me of something I wrote for our prayer partners while we were on our missionary "adventure". I'd like to share it with you.

Love Gifts
June 9, 2001

I don’t know why I didn’t “see” them before. According to Teta Neda, my land lady, they’ve been there for years and years. Yet, it wasn’t until today, this moment, as I took them from her hand, that I really “saw” them for what they were.

Maybe I should go back a few years so you can truly share this moment with me…

The summer before we came to B. we lived in a brand new parsonage courtesy of Central Baptist Church. I’m not sure which inspired me most, the brand new yard lying there like a blank sheet of paper waiting to be drawn on, or the fact that we lived next door to a plant nursery. Probably both. But it was certainly the nursery owner’s pity on my lack of a green thumb that produced the lovely flower bed I enjoyed that last summer.

Two of my most cherished plants were a pair of Tropicana roses. They were small, but beyond gorgeous when in bloom!!! They are now my absolutely favorite rose color! Every day I would go out and admire their beauty. I considered each bud and bloom a personal love-gift from my heavenly Father.

When we knew God was asking us to move to B., I dug up those two rose bushes and entrusted them to the care of my earthly father. (What happened to them then is not relevant to this story, so I will spare you the details…By the way, I still love you, Dad.)

I missed my beautiful roses (among many other things) the day I first laid eyes on our new town. All the buildings seemed to be the same, drab, color brown. There was nothing of beauty to capture and please the eye. With all the enthusiasm reserved for finding out you need a root canal, I thought to myself, “So, this is it.”

Now back to the story at hand. As Teta Neda and I stood in the front yard this particular summer day, she held out to me a bouquet of roses cut fresh from her very own bushes. Bushes that had been there all last summer, bushes that I had admired, flowers whose fragrance had tickled my nose. But for the first time I realized that the roses held out to me were Tropicana’s… exactly like the ones I’d left behind. It could not be a coincidence.

I may have moved, but my Heavenly Father never left me. I may not have noticed His love-gifts for an entire summer; but He still gave them. Teta Neda may have planted, watered, trimmed, and cared for those roses for a long time, but I just have to believe that God’s hand was with her those many years ago as she chose those particular bushes. Because even before she’d heard of me or I’d heard of her, God knew I would live in this place. He wanted me to know He’d already been here, and He loves me.

He loves you too! Don’t let His love-gifts to you go unnoticed.

Enjoying the Father’s love-gifts with you,

Drewe Llyn