Beauty for ashes

I am waiting with you & I cannot wait to hear your song.

Dear Friend,

I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like life has knocked the wind out of you, but I have. Some days I felt like dust scattered, unrecognisable, too broken to be useful.

And yet, this is where I have met God most tenderly.

Isaiah 61:3 says He gives “beauty for ashes.” That means He doesn’t just sweep up the ashes and throw them away. He transforms them. He takes the very thing that represented death and turns it into something beautiful.

Looking back, I see that the dust seasons were where I learned to depend on Him most. They were there, and I discovered that my worth was not in what I could do or produce, but in simply being His.

And somehow, slowly, those dusty places started to bloom. Glory started to rise where there had once been rubble.

If you are feeling buried right now, hold on. You are not done. The Potter is still shaping you, and when He is finished, you will shine.

With hope,

Temi Olu