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Hold Fast in the Fire: In the Ashes
If you’re holding the ashes of a dream, a relationship, or even a job in your hands, what do you see? You may see what could have been. Maybe a broken heart. You may even see your life slipping through your hands and wonder how this could ever be in God’s plans.
One of the most profound promises of the gospel is that The Lord gives beauty for our ashes.
“And provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes…” Isaiah 61:3
The ashes we encounter in life are powerful in that they symbolize two seasons: an ending yet also a new beginning. While we may initially associate ashes strictly as an ending, it’s imperative to note that they lay the soil for hope to be planted and beauty to grow. When life gives you ashes, it’s okay to grieve, because with God your tears will not go to waste; rather, they’ll nourish growth to take place.
“King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, ‘Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, Your Majesty.’ He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’” Daniel 3:24-25
Sometimes the ashes we think or believe to physically see in front of us is, in actuality, God’s redemption moving on the other side of the flames. King Nebuchadnezzar believed he burned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego down to ashes, but instead witnessed Jesus' rescue.
Jesus is in the flames with you and ready to use those ashes to bless you with a new beginning. Will you trust Him to redeem and rescue?
@rhiannamarie24 #HoldFastInTheFlames #InTheAshes
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, we praise you for our promise that our ashes will turn to beauty. You plans are so much greater than our own. We thank you that you love us so much that your heart’s desire is for goodness to resurrect out of our pain. Help us to fixate our eyes on so that we can walk into our new beginnings trusting you to heal the ashes. Amen.
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