When we first meet a new person we usually size them up. How tall, how thin, what kind of hair, how pretty or handsome. Sometimes we do all of this without noticing and sometimes we do it over a period of time by looking at their features.

I want to tell you of two women I have known. One is around 50 years old and from the time I met her she has told me how beautiful she and her entire family are going back to the Civil War. (Not really, but it seems that way.)

She tells me how tall she is and how tall her family are and they all have blonde hair and just have knock-out gorgeous looks.

I’ve seen pictures of her and my opinion is she is very average and not someone who would stand out in a crowd.

I once knew another woman who has since gone on to her reward in heaven.

She and her husband had been missionaries to the Congo and had come home on a one-year furlough right at the time of the revolution in the Congo, and due to the revolution were not able to return to that mission field.

We were in need of a pastor in our church and they were the ones selected.

I was a young teen at the time, and sitting across the aisle from her I noted she was probably the ugliest woman I had ever seen.

She was short, fat, had thin hair and her face was not pretty in any way, shape or form.

It took me awhile to get rid of my shyness and get to know her by being invited to the parsonage, which was connected to the church, and having snacks and Christian fellowship. She was a wonderful cook and always had at least one fresh cake along with cheeses and crackers and soft drinks for us to enjoy.

We would spend several hours there just having Christian fellowship.

Soon I got to know her, and as I got to know her, something happened: She was still short, heavy, had thin hair but the most beautiful smile and face I had ever seen.

Her beauty was from within and not from make-up or being told all her life how beautiful she was.

They left our tiny church after several years and went to pastor several different Indian tribes in Arizona.

I would contact her occasionally and we’d talk. She always knew when something was bothering me because she said the Lord had laid it on her heart to pray for me.

After not seeing this couple for about 30 years I got a call from their daughter that the husband had died. Since he was from Michigan and they were in a nursing home in Florida, the wife would be left behind while the family went to Michigan for her husband’s funeral.

This seemed wrong to me, so I made arrangements to get time off work and I flew to Tampa so I could be with her during this sad time in her life. She always said she hoped the Lord would take them both together.

When I first saw her she looked the same, except her hair was now white. She still had that radiant beauty on her face.

We hung around that weekend and into the following week, and I was able to take her to church for the first time in a couple of years, since she was in a wheelchair.

Eight months later I received a call from her daughter that the Lord had granted her wish and she had joined her husband in heaven.

We’ve all heard the saying that we can’t judge a book by its cover, and I can tell you from experience the one who claims to have the beauty is actually very ugly inside.

The one who was ugly on the outside was one of the most beautiful people I have ever had the honor to meet.