Beauty from Ashes

Isaiah 61:1-3
' He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners... to comfort those who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him'. 

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God wishes to comfort those of us who mourn. Naturally, we take that to mean those of us who have lost a person in the physical sense, someone we care about or love. Of course, he does, he hopes to comfort us who mourn in this way. For as we know God is close to the brokenhearted. 

However, our ashes aren't always physical beings or grief and mourning of someone we knew. We can be brokenhearted, in despair, mourning about many other things that we once or still do feel our hearts desire. Ashes represent our broken dreams, our failings, disappointments and hurts. Our ashes are our broken relationship, disappointing exam results, failed university place, negative pregnancy test for the what feels like six hundredth time. 

Those things are of course hard to understand in the time, pain, sorrow and grief are completely justifiable, but those things also have the ability to gain so much control over us and our lives. When in reality it's God who has the ultimate control, everything happens according to His plan and purpose for our lives. 

God takes our ashes and makes them beautiful. He takes our hurt and pain and creates a beautiful masterpiece that we once couldn't see. For that to happen though we need to hand those situations back to God and then we can see the beauty emerge. We have to let go of the ashes and allow God to take hold of the situations or circumstances you find yourself in. Then you will see the true beauty God has in store. 

It's easier said than done but all we need to do is hand control over to God. Trust God, even when it hurts. Trust God when it seems unfair. Trust God through the tears. And you will see great and beautiful things. 

God prepares us for our new season by taking away the things in our way or holding us back. He prepares us for the new seasons and things to come when we don't even know what they are yet. God's plan will always be more beautiful than your disappointments.

If you don't let go of the old. God can't give us the new. 

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God's plan will always be more beautiful than your disappointments.