These Beautiful Ashes...

"For today will bring tomorrow and the once familiar sorrow will turn and testify to yesterday." -Andrew Ehrenzeller from "Your Beauty Is What Remains."

I cannot begin to tell you how much these words penetrate straight to my heart in this season.  I so long to leave the past behind and move on. I long to forget about the hurts and the wounds and put them aside as if they never happened.

Yes, the Lord restores. Yes, He redeems, but there is somehow beauty in my struggle and there is somehow beauty in that pain I suffered. Jesus finds it captivating in His sight. This is a marvelous mystery. He can turn them into beauty and He receives glory to the utmost because of how He turns it all around.

Why is it that we get healed of wounds only to find ourselves in the same place again? I have been thinking about this lately. Perhaps, He is going even deeper still.  He is reaching further into the levels that we couldn't go in another season.

He knows how much we can handle and if He dealt with all of our pain, we would die. In His mercy, He takes His time with us. He is patient with our hearts. I am amazed at His goodness and gentleness to do this with the ones He loves.

Holy Spirit come and touch every place of my heart. Come and make the wrong things right. Come and turn these tears of brokenness into tears of joy. For You make all things beautiful.