I love to walk outdoors when the weather is nice, however, it can be a challenge because of Houston’s 98% humidity and heat which frequently climbs into the 100’s each summer. I recall a walk several years ago in my old neighborhood when I saw two matching four-story townhouses on a corner block, and they were gorgeous. Each had a fabulous rooftop terrace which put them higher than most structures in the area. You could tell that they had a view of the downtown Houston skyline and being on the corner, all other directions as well. 

These townhomes were considerably more modern than the rest of the townhomes in the area and they had a unique brick architectural design I hadn’t seen before. They were some of the prettier homes and because of their stylish contemporary lines, each significantly stood out in the neighborhood. We lived in a simpler townhome down the street. Every time I either drove or walked by that corner, I always imagined how exquisite they must be on the inside and thought about how our units didn’t have that anywhere near that type of curb appeal.

The other attribute about the weather in Houston is that it tends to rain frequently. In the last few years, Houston has been hit with a huge hurricane along with several other storms causing lots of flooding. Many months after the last bad storm, I saw blue plastic rain shields on a portion of both of those beautiful townhomes. I noticed the water damage on the outside of the townhomes specifically where I had previously admired the unique brick column. Our townhome had weathered all of the storms just fine. 

One year passed and then two but the townhomes still hadn’t been repaired and the leaks expanded to cover almost the entirety of both sides of each home. Come to find out repairs were halted because the owners were in legal disputes with the builder over their warranty. They continued to try to keep the blue plastic fastened, but most of it had eroded. Underneath the partial brick that was left, the insulation was visible, and the sheetrock was peeling back like wet paper. What was once beautiful was now deteriorated and had become an eyesore in the neighborhood. When we had been searching for a place to live, I had wanted that townhouse because it was prettier than mine. Little did I realize; it began rotting on the inside way before you could see it from the outside. 

There are two clear lessons from this story. So many times, we compare ourselves to others that we think are more beautiful than us, but we forget the Lord looks at the heart. Beauty on the outside doesn’t mean their heart isn’t rotting on the inside just like that townhome. The book of Proverbs says, “Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the Lord should be praised.”

When the prophet Samuel was sent by the Lord to anoint the next king, Samuel looked at the strapping man who was the firstborn and assumed God would choose him. But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) Samuel asked if there were additional sons as none of the others in age order were chosen by God either. Along from the pasture fields arrived the scrawny, youngest son David and the Lord told Samuel to anoint him for he would be the next king. 

The second lesson is, sometimes we ask God for things and we don’t get what we want and we don’t understand. I kept thinking what if we had prayed specifically for that townhome not knowing that a nightmare was waiting to happen in the future. We have to trust God and that His ways are higher than ours and sometimes he’s protecting us from something that we can’t understand from the outside view. What I love about the Lord is that he knows what’s best for me even when I can’t wrap my head around it just like Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us, “Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.”

Take a moment and look back over your life and the times you didn’t always get what you wanted and praise God for his wisdom and direction.