Beauty for Ashes

"But I trusted in thess, O Lord:  I said, Thou art my God.  My times are in Thy hand..."

~Psalm 31:14-15a~

Hello there!  I'm praying that you are blessed by this post!  

God laid this on my heart to share and I'm excited to!

"Beauty for Ashes".  That phrase is full of heart and makes you feel wonderful, doesn't it?  It does for me.  Those three words describe the absolute, unmatched power of my God!  He is ALMIGHTY, MOST HOLY, and yet loves to "kneel down" and in the tenderest of love, scoop up ashes to make something beautiful of them.  The Perfect One loves making the imperfect - perfect in His sight.  WOW. Oh wow.

I'm grateful.  I want to praise Him for this miracle all my days.  He alone does MARVELOUS things!  He has shown me His matchless love by not forcing His beauty and holiness on me, but gave me a choice to bring the ashes of my unholy self that was born into sin and offer it up to Him.  Doing this was the ULTIMATE experience of His cleansing power.  I came to Him and He, His Spirit, in turn now lives in me.  He has made me beautiful.  How could I not be?!  HE, THE BEAUTIFUL (holy, complete, majestic, honorable) ONE is ALIVE IN MY SPIRIT!!!  He made beauty from my ashes.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." -2 Corinthians 5:17

I'm ALL new - body, soul and spirit!  He made beauty from my ashes.

I'm thankful.  I want to prasie Him for this continuing miracle all my days.  He alone does INCREDIBLE things!  When I choose to look away, even for a "minute" and allow evil to influence my body and soul.  When I choose to believe an "outside" lie and not the truth that His Spirit in me speaks.  When I listen to my wants and in selfishness run with them, instead of being still and surrending them - God is there.  He's telling me the truth and prompting me to see my selfishness and failures as ashes and give them to Him.  When I do - He takes them and turnes their consequences into something beautiful.  Every time.  Because that's Who He is.  

"I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." -Job 42:2-6

I'm re-NEWed - body and soul!  He made beauty from my ashes.

 

I'm excited.  I want to praise Him for this indescribable gift all my days.  He alone does WONDERFUL things!  How can one not be excited?  He is my Defender when others pour ashes into my hands through attack, accusations and persecutions. His children will suffer persecution for His sake, because the world rejects the Truth but, He is there.  He covers my past, is with me in my present and holds my future.  He is the Creator of EVERYTHING beautiful!  He has the UNMATCHED power to turn anything that satan means for evil into something good - His kinda GOOD!  :)  He makes beauty from ashes.

"I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." -Psalms 13:6

"Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary." -Psalms 96:6

"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." -Isaiah 61:3 

The future is exciting!  The Maker of all things beautiful goes with me!

Blessings to you friends!  May you praise the Lord for Who is!  Praise Him for His salvation and eternal beauty!  May the "ashes" of your own failures or the "ashes" that other's pour into your hands in persecution - NEVER be your focus!  May they cause your eyes to look unto the Author and Finisher of your faith and make you stretch out your hands unto Him - for He WILL give you His beauty (honor, majesty, glory, completeness) instead!  All the time.  Every time. That's Who He is.

Much love, 

Bri