Beauty for Ashes

“If you want beauty, give me your ashes.”

I kept hearing this in my spirit. “Give me your ashes, and I will give you beauty.” 

It’s interesting to think about ashes with so many forest fires currently burning in Canada. Many people, especially in the north, are dealing with literal smoke and ashes in the air. Even we in Ottawa have experienced the smoke and ashes of distant fires turning our skies grey. What do ashes do? They limit our vision. They cover up treasures and hide things we love.

So it is with the ashes in our hearts. They obscure our ability to see and hear from God. They keep us from seeing the good things in our lives. What are my ashes? Broken dreams. Disappointments. Failures. Loss. Places of trauma. Our heavenly Father asks us to release these all to Him. We need to release the old season’s ashes so that He can replace them with the beauty of what He has for us now.

Oh, how wonderful and glorious is our Abba Father! He is so good and He gives only good gifts! My prayer is that the Lord would show us our ashes so that we can release them ALL to Him! No more hanging onto the past!  And with thankful hearts, we will exchange them for the beauty of His view of us and His perspective on our futures and our loved ones. Amen.

“..to give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Isaiah 6:13