“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
(Photo Credit: forashes.org)
Today’s devotion is based on Isaiah 61:3. While this passage brings me comfort, it also raises a question I often wrestle with:
How can there be even a smidgen of beauty in the midst of rubble? In ashes? How is that even possible?
These questions don’t come lightly. They rise from places in my life marked by grief, loss, and deep sorrow, moments where beauty felt completely absent.
I remember seeing my baby sister lying in her small white coffin. And in that moment, beauty was the furthest thing from my mind.
When I noticed my mama with bruises on her body, I couldn’t see anything beautiful in that.
The man I once knew for his strength and steady footing slowly became someone unrecognizable, reduced to a sloppy drunk after just one drink; nothing was charming about that.
Watching my grandpa become a prisoner in his own body, his once strong, barrel-chested frame turning frail and sunken, didn’t resemble anything I would call beautiful.
And my grandma—once so full and vibrant—grew thin and weak from illness. That, too, was hard to look at.
I can still see the back of my former husband as he walked away, leaving me behind in a heap of sobs, calling out his name. There was nothing picturesque about that moment.
My tiny 29-day-old granddaughter, swollen from fluids and lying in a medically induced coma after open-heart surgery—that wasn’t something my eyes could call beautiful.
Scars are not beautiful. Neither are hidden bruises, whether on the body or the heart.
Death is never beautiful, and the grief that follows is a weight no one should have to carry. Hunger isn’t beautiful. Loneliness isn’t beautiful.
Repossession isn’t quaint. Foreclosure is far from delightful.
So how can there be beauty for ashes?
It doesn’t come by erasing the ashes. It rises from them.
This kind of beauty doesn’t pretend the pain never happened. It doesn’t gloss over the heartbreak or tidy it up into something neat. Instead, it grows out of the very places that tried to break us. It’s a quiet, resilient kind of beauty, one that allows the hurt to be woven into something greater.
For me, that beauty is found in hope.
Hope when everything feels hopeless.
Hope that what is broken will one day be made whole.
Hope that the pain will not last forever.
Hope that justice will come.
Hope that scattered pieces can be gathered and rebuilt.
Hope for healing, for relief, for restoration.
Hope that light will break through the darkness and a new day will come.
Hope that this, too, shall pass.
Hope in heaven.
And most of all, hope in the promise that one day, we will see again the loved ones we’ve had to let go.
So today, I can say it with confidence, maybe even shout it from the mountaintop:
Thank You, Lord, for turning the ugliness in my life into something beautiful.
Out of sadness and hurt, will come strength and victory.
From Heart to Heritage
Reflections From the Heart 
Beauty for ashes is truly a gift from God. He alone can turn our pains to joy, if only we will lean on Him, and remember that He endured the cross that we might have His gift of eternal life.
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Trials indeed bring you beautiful “Hope” through Him. Thank you for sharing your post! 🙂
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Thank you Mary, your message is Truth and like you I don’t believe we have to be Happy Clappy about suffering but we can give Thanks that Jesus is with us during the Hardships of life as we see confirmed below in the Scriptures and as you shared, He works it all out for good in our lives.
Isaiah 43:1-3 – Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.”
Jeremiah 29 :11-12 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Lamentations 3: 33 For God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
I suffered greatly as a Child and so do the Children in my Funday School but I share with them that when I use to wake up with nightmares when I was young, I talked to Jesus and I was no longer frightened, they do the same now and they tell me He makes them feel better.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
I still don’t claim that Nightmares are good but I Thank God that He also uses my worst life experiences for good today and will continue to do so.
Christian Love Always – Anne.
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His grace is sufficient. His power is perfected in our weakness. He refines us as pure gold and conforms us into His image. As the song says: Through it all … I’ve learned to trust in Jesus. Happy Sunday, Anne! 🙂
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Yes He does Mary conform us but not by afflicting us or causing us to grieve as the Scriptures below confirm, He does so by the Fruit of the Spirit, as we choose to walk in them He empowers us so we can which puts our Carnal flesh to death as we aim to be perfected in Love and we cannot do this without His empowering, in ourselves we are weak but in Jesus we are strong..
Lamentations 3: 33 For God doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
Blessings – Anne
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Hope is beautiful. Lovely post! Thank you. And thanks for the song! I remember this song from Crystal Lewis! I think I got her cd somewhere! Thank you for the reminder! 🙂 Blessings!
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Thank you! I too, love the song and it took me way back!
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I would call all this an inconvenient truth. (I think I stole that from Al Gore.) A phoenix rises from ashes. Hope.
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Love this, Sandra.
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Reblogged this on SHEMHOPE and commented:
There is beauty for ashes indeed!!
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Yes, indeed! Thanks for the reblog!
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