Beauty From Ashes
God’s specialty is rearranging the ashes of our disappointments, despair and dismay into something beautiful. He takes our mess and changes it into His message. The best historical illustration of this spiritual truth happened in 1988 in the Yellowstone National Monument. It was the most devastating wild fire in the history of the national park system. It burned uncontrollably for nine months – from early June through the first snow in September. In early June, flames wiped out 1.2 million acres about 36% of the park’s over 2 million acres. The fire was finally put out in November. As the damage was tallied, the losses financially could not be recovered. Yet God was up to something.
In the same way, all of us have experienced ashes of loss:
Denial
Depression
Destruction
Despair
Divorce
Death
Domestic Violence
Discouragement
Disease
He will restore, rebuild, regenerate our lives. Years after the Yellowstone wildfire wiped everything out, these plants actually increased in productivity. The ‘natural catastrophe’ has been regenerated into a lush forest, which has come back thicker and healthier. God does the same thing for us, He takes the ashes of our losses, uses them as fertilizer to make us even healthier than ever!
, but we must trust Him to restore and rebuild in His time. God has a plan for the ashes of your losses. He will restore, rebuild, regenerate your life. Isaiah 61:3reminds us, “To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
Let’s pray, “Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for taking our ashes and changing them into something beautiful. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
