BEAUTY FROM ASHES.

Today, so many people are waking up to the fact that much of their life they have spent wasted. Wasted time, wasted effort, wasted work, wasted. The pandemic has wiped away everything for some people, "burning" down their life's creations, their life's work. Family members are dying, businesses are closed, houses being taken, food is sparse. For some families, it is just darkness, isolation, fear, and loneliness. Whether you have built an empire or you have nothing to show, we all have been put in a place of equality. Stripped of our pride, stripped of our independence, stripped of our sufficiency, stripped of contentment. In one way or another you have been thrown into the fire, mentally, emotionally, or physically.

We need to realize that as a human race we cannot survive on our own. We need to understand that we are at the complete Mercy of God. God is the one who gives and takes away, he sustains, and he provides. He allows these kinds of things to happen to us so that we become aware of the fragility we possess, that we are living a life completely separated from him and his love. Till we turn to him with our neediness and ask for help. He wants to care for us, and provide for us, but he cannot do that if we do not let him. We were not meant to live life on our own, we were meant to live life with God, and for God's Purpose that he created you for. The purpose for man was to be with God and for God to be with man. FAMILY! Gods Family!

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (ESV) - 2 Chronicles 7:14

When we acquire something that is valuable, usually it is very fragile. It breaks easily, we have a realization of its worth to us. We regard it as being precious, and highly favored. We handle it with care, and are extremely attenuative to it, we place the items in areas that are with upmost respect, and display them to be seen. We only get it out and handle it when we are using them for special occasions, or to express the rarity of the item. This is how God sees us. Each one of us were created as a rarity. You are a unique, one of a kind. There is no one in this earth like you. God knew what he wanted when he created you. He knows your purpose in this earth and why He created you. The rare valuable items we put on display were created for a purpose. They are used only when they will be honored and treasured, special occasions. This makes others aware of the value, rarity, and honor that is due the item.

God treats you the same way when you allow him to. Whatever is burning away in your life, whatever is left from the pain, or the trials you have been burdened with. Let them go. Your beauty is what is left behind. Nothing that you have lost, nothing that has been taken that God will not restore to you. 2-fold, 7-fold, and even 100-fold. God is an economical God; he doesn't waste anything. He uses everything, even what was meant to harm you, and even what was meant for bad, he will use it for good, as long as you love him. You see in a fire when the ashes are left over from the burning, they too can be used. The minerals that are in the ash is a great ingredient to soil for new growth of seed. It makes the soil fertile. That means that the heart and mind in you is fertile for new growth. Need seed that God can plant in you.

“Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people[b] should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. - Genesis 50: 19-21

Whatever ashes you have, even if you store them away, will become valuable. Ash is a good source of nutrients for soils in your garden. Composted, it becomes fertilizer. The times in your life that you have tucked away, the mistakes you have hidden deep inside you. Those pieces that are too painful to handle, God turns them into fertilizer for your heart. Cultivating your heart from dead to life, from stagnant to moving, from hard to soft. He will use them in your life to fuel you, to keep you going, to light his fire in you. A burning desire to do what you were meant to do, and to keep going.

In order to rise from its own ashes, a phoenix first must burn - Octavia E. Butler

This is the time for us to use the coals in our life. To sustain us through this pandemic. To endure the fight we are fighting, and to boost others to keep going. We may not see the light at the end, but we can be the beacons for other people. We can be the fire that ignites others. The chain reaction that keeps on going, that never burns out. God's fire is good. One day we will look back and see that this pandemic had created something in us as people and as a nation that would not have happened in any other way. For it is good that I was afflicted, so that I may know the Glory of God, and His love for me.

I pray that you are ignited, that the ashes in your life become fertile ground for you to grow, or coal for you to burn bright. I pray that you seek Love, and that Love shows you who He is. I pray that these words give you peace and inspire you. I pray that they touch you, and that you may come to know God. Go in peace and may God protect you and give you strength. I pray he gives you beauty for your ashes, as long as you have ashes to give him... -Amen

xo EM

I survived because the fire inside of me burned brighter than the fire around me -Joshua Graham