Beauty for Ashes
"...I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."
Isaiah 42:16
Over the past few months, I have experienced God in ways I have never known. I have felt His presence and have learned to trust Him more and pray harder. I have felt His peace in the most uncertain of circumstances and have had to practice true childlike faith. My faith has been incredibly shaken but not broken.
I am learning what it means to not worry about tomorrow and to be confident that He will provide everything that I need for today. I cannot predict or even control what will happen next but I know with absolute certainty that God has already traveled this road for me and made all the rough places smooth. (Isaiah 42:16) Through this trying time, God has made Himself more real in my life than He ever has been before.
At times I find it odd to think that this current situation is a blessing but then I realize that this new place that I have found myself would have never come if things had stayed as they were in my life. God uses every circumstance in our life to draw us closer to Him and to grow our faith. He even uses the bad things, the things that we would never choose to take place, the events that completely shake us and leave us changed forever.
Things that I never expected to take place in my life, God is using to grow me. I am learning to be thankful for the heartache and pain and thankful for the paths that may not always seem so clear. Some of these roads are not ones I would have chosen but I have felt His hand upon me. Through every wrong choice and every tear I've cried, I have experienced His amazing grace and His loving mercy over and over. I feel my loving Heavenly Father, holding me in His arms and there I find great comfort for I know that He gives beauty for ashes. (Isaiah 61:3)
Throughout all this heartache, God is taking this trial, and He WILL use it all for HIS glory. As I finish this posting, I do not know what will happen. I do not know where things will end up but I do know this: I can trust God completely and know with great confidence that He uses EVERYTHING for HIS good. In the end, His plan will be accomplished and nothing that has happened or that will happen will be wasted on evil. He will use MY life, MY trial, MY heartache to radiate HIS glory!
Isaiah 42:16
Over the past few months, I have experienced God in ways I have never known. I have felt His presence and have learned to trust Him more and pray harder. I have felt His peace in the most uncertain of circumstances and have had to practice true childlike faith. My faith has been incredibly shaken but not broken.
I am learning what it means to not worry about tomorrow and to be confident that He will provide everything that I need for today. I cannot predict or even control what will happen next but I know with absolute certainty that God has already traveled this road for me and made all the rough places smooth. (Isaiah 42:16) Through this trying time, God has made Himself more real in my life than He ever has been before.
At times I find it odd to think that this current situation is a blessing but then I realize that this new place that I have found myself would have never come if things had stayed as they were in my life. God uses every circumstance in our life to draw us closer to Him and to grow our faith. He even uses the bad things, the things that we would never choose to take place, the events that completely shake us and leave us changed forever.
Things that I never expected to take place in my life, God is using to grow me. I am learning to be thankful for the heartache and pain and thankful for the paths that may not always seem so clear. Some of these roads are not ones I would have chosen but I have felt His hand upon me. Through every wrong choice and every tear I've cried, I have experienced His amazing grace and His loving mercy over and over. I feel my loving Heavenly Father, holding me in His arms and there I find great comfort for I know that He gives beauty for ashes. (Isaiah 61:3)
Throughout all this heartache, God is taking this trial, and He WILL use it all for HIS glory. As I finish this posting, I do not know what will happen. I do not know where things will end up but I do know this: I can trust God completely and know with great confidence that He uses EVERYTHING for HIS good. In the end, His plan will be accomplished and nothing that has happened or that will happen will be wasted on evil. He will use MY life, MY trial, MY heartache to radiate HIS glory!
This is exactly what I've been praying for you. I'm so thankful that God is showing you his steadfast love through all of this, and that you're wise enough to keep trusting and seeking his glory.
ReplyDeleteI love you, sister. Still praying.
Your faithfulness and trust in Him will be rewarded :-)
ReplyDeleteSue
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ReplyDeleteA Facebook status update of a friend of mine today. Thought it quite fitting to my friend, anonymous in Roanoke, VA.
ReplyDelete"Who have u pointed ur finger @ lately? Maybe if we spent more time praying 4 each othrs repentance & not focusing on our mistakes, people might actually repent!"