Beauty for Ashes

Isaiah 61:3 says, "God gives beauty for ashes." What does that really look like? I've experienced beauty for ashes when it comes to physical pain, but what does it look like for emotional pain?

I'm in the middle of emotional pain. A part of me has died. I keep saying to myself, "It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving. It doesn't feel like Christmas. It doesn't feel like it's almost my birthday."

Everything is a reminder that nothing is the same. Every part of my life has been touched. I know I'm still grieving, but how long will it last?

I can't answer that. I am holding to the truth that God is working even when I can't see Him. He's working even when I can't feel Him.

The Bible says in Isaiah 53:3, "He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain." 

I take comfort in the fact that God knows and He hurts when I hurt. I don't know how long I'll hurt, but I trust that He's making something beautiful out of my brokenness. Even when circumstances aren't good, He is good.

I've often heard it said, "When you can't stand, God carries you." I am confident He is carrying me through this season. I am determined to become a better version of myself through this.

In Between

Photo by JHorna Smidt from FreeImages

I gazed at the beautiful photograph as summer-time childhood memories danced in my head. The hydrangeas contrasted beautifully with the rustic fence. The blooms were bright and full, so inviting I could almost smell them.

“This bush finally had blooms about 5 years after I planted it,” my friend said. “I don’t know whether to say I was patient on waiting for it to bloom or stubborn because I wanted to leave it planted there. Turned out nice, though.”

I wondered how many of us would have left the bush there for that long, when it seemed like it wasn’t producing. Still, she left it there because she loved the plant. Five long years had passed with no blooms, but now the plant is flourishing. The photo was beautiful, but no one saw the waiting period. That plant was getting ready to blossom in the midst of the dry spell. Anyone can marvel at the bush’s beauty now; only a gardener could appreciate the process.

You may be like that hydrangea, feeling dry and lifeless with no blooms to show that you are growing. Don’t pull up your roots just yet! You could be on the verge of something great and miss out because your life doesn’t match the picture you had in your head. Just because you’re in a seemingly lifeless spot where time ticks by slowly, doesn’t mean what God told you in the previous seasons has changed. His Word is still the same!

How many times have we wanted to move from where we’re planted? If we do, we will miss our opportunity to bloom.

Disrupt the Environment

Last year, my little two year old niece pulled an indoor orange tree up by the roots. My mom was devastated as she had worked for two years to get it to grow.  She thought surely the tree was dead.

Amazingly, the tree did not die. It THRIVED, growing by leaps and bounds.

As I was talking to my mom this week, I said, "MaKensie disrupted the tree's environment. Maybe I need to disrupt mine. It's so easy for us to get comfortable doing routines. I know I have done that with my exercises. In order to grow, you have to do something different. You have to be willing to throw caution to the wind and say, "Let's try this and see what happens!"

That is exactly what I did when I walked with my walker a few days ago. Instead of walking the hallway at home, I told my mom I wanted to start at the front door, hoping I could make it to the end of the hall.

Guess what? I did make it! It has been years since I've been able to do that and I am so thankful.