This Saturday morning post comes a bit later than normal. Jeff and I were blessed with overnight guests, our grandsons, Harry & Ollie. Usually, when they stay over, I can still sneak out of bed early and have my morning time with Jesus, but they were early risers today! So… I’m getting a late, but a  perfectly, Godly-timed start.

There’s a phrase in Scripture that I’ve come to know deeply and personally: “beauty from ashes.” It’s not just poetic, it’s my testimony. If you’ve known me any amount of time, you already know this. Over and over again, God has taken the broken pieces of my life and turned them into something beautiful. I’ve lived through seasons where all I could see was the ash… loss, disappointment, heartbreak, failure. Yet again and again, God has stepped in with His healing, redemptive power.

I live a resurrection life. That means I’ve seen the valley. I’ve wept in the dark. I’ve faced the weight of death… not always physical, but emotional, spiritual, even the death of dreams. But through Jesus, death is never the end. In Christ, ashes are never the final word. He raises what’s been buried. He rebuilds what’s been destroyed. He restores what’s been lost.

Every time God lifts me out of the pit and places my feet back on the mountaintop, I’m reminded: this is who He is. He’s not a God who just fixes things. He transforms them. He doesn’t just patch up your life, He gives you a new one.

Is life easy? No. In fact, following Jesus sometimes brings its own share of hardship. But life with Christ, even in the valleys, is filled with a joy the world can’t imitate. It’s a joy rooted in hope, in healing, in resurrection. True joy doesn’t come from circumstances being perfect. It comes from knowing the One who holds your future, the One who brings beauty from ashes every single time.

So if you’re in the ashes right now, hold on. Don’t lose heart. God is not finished with your story. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is alive in you (Romans 8:11). And He’s in the business of making all things new.

Let my life be proof. He will lift you up again. I can’t wait for you to see what’s coming next!🥰