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You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Turning Your Ashes Into A Crown Of Beauty

October 28, 2014 ·

Turning Your Ashes Into A Crown Of Beauty

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redemption

We’ve talked about what is redemption and how we ask God for our sins, our past, to be redeemed. Today, I want to soak in God’s promises of redemption from scripture. Let’s take a minute to hear what He says about how He will redeem whatever we’ve been through.

and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise, instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor…. … Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. (Isaiah 61:3-7 NIV)

God is speaking to His people through the prophet Isaiah and promising them redemption. God’s people were in exile and the future was looking bleak. The kingdom of Israel had fallen apart and they’d been overtaken by the Babylonians. Isaiah began to prophesy about redemption and hope. A day to come where God would turn it all around and restore the people to Him.

God gives us this same promise. He will turn our ashes into beauty. Take our mourning and transform it into gladness; turn our despair into praise. Instead of disgrace over what we’ve done, we will rejoice over our place in God’s kingdom.

To see a glimpse of God’s power of redemption, watch this video. I promise it’ll be an extraordinary 5 minutes of your day. I found this several years ago while preparing for a women’s conference and it absolutely blew me away – and has stuck with me as a powerful reminder of God’s forgiveness and redemption, a real-life illustration of this verse in Isaiah.

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes —who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water .’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes .’” (Revelation 7:13-17 NIV)

How incredible to think that the blood Jesus shed on the cross will wash us clean! Our robes, filthy with sin and tribulation of this world, will be made white as snow.

With God, we will not hunger or thirst or be in need. We will live by springs of living water. God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

(Psalm 130:1-4 NIV)

For some additional encouragement today, check out “What Faith Can Do”, by Kutlass

This post is part of the “A Better Change” series. For more information on this series and to find related posts, click here: A Better Change Series – Overview

Roadmap part 6

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Previous Post: « Redemption Is To Be Set Free!
Next Post: Finding Redemption By Saying YES to Jesus »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. [email protected] says

    October 28, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    Praising, praising for His redemption, Kathryn. Yesterday, today, forever.

    Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

    Sing it, Kutless …

    • Kathryn says

      October 28, 2014 at 7:18 pm

      Amen!

  2. Mary Flaherty says

    October 29, 2014 at 8:47 am

    awesome! I almost didn’t watch that video, but I did, because you promised I’d love it! Wow! It made me cry. God is SOOO good! And I tweeted it too.

    • Kathryn Shirey says

      October 29, 2014 at 12:19 pm

      I’m so glad you liked it! I bet I’ve watched that video dozens of times over the past few years and it still blows me away every time I see it.

  3. joanneviola says

    October 30, 2014 at 6:42 am

    Kathryn, no matter how many times I see the cardboard testimonies, it moves me. We can all see ourselves somewhere in that video. To think of all that we have received from our Lord is incredible. For me, it is with every single snowfall. I look out & all I can think in the whiteness & stillness & purity which I see is “whiter than snow”. He has made me (us) whiter than snow. Beautiful post!

    • Kathryn says

      November 3, 2014 at 10:00 pm

      We did these at a women’s conference a few years ago and used this video to explain the cardboard testimonies. It was such a powerful part of the weekend – tear and tears, but also healing. i love seeing all the cardboards flip over!

  4. Ashley says

    October 30, 2014 at 10:33 am

    Beautiful post! One of my absolute favorite promises from Him – beauty for ashes <3 Jesus is ever faithful to bring redemption from the broken places in our lives. Thank you for sharing this on Coffee for Your Heart! God bless you.

  5. Anita Ojeda says

    October 30, 2014 at 12:21 pm

    Absolutely! God will turn our ashes to beauty. Thank you for the reminder!

  6. Misty says

    October 31, 2014 at 8:23 am

    Love this post.. seem like our Daddy God is speaking the same thing in both of our hearts this week 🙂 Beautiful confirmation. I loved the video too… He makes beautiful things out of us.

    Blessings,
    Misty

    • Kathryn says

      November 3, 2014 at 10:01 pm

      Glad you loved the video! it’s one I can’t get out of my heart!

  7. kristine says

    February 25, 2016 at 6:20 am

    I’m your neighbor today at #livefree Kathryn! First let me say, I love that scripture. There’s truly nothing more powerful in our walk with God than knowing how He is transforming us – beauty for ashes. Beautiful! Second, I am thinking at this very moment how thankful I am that we’ve met and become friends. See you Saturday!

    • Kathryn says

      February 25, 2016 at 6:24 am

      So grateful for you, too, Kristine! I’m SO looking forward to Saturday!

Trackbacks

  1. A Better Change Series - Overview - Finding Hope says:
    October 28, 2014 at 6:36 pm

    […] Turning Your Ashes Into A Crown Of Beauty […]

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Hi, I'm Kathryn! I'm glad you're here to journey with me! I'm just an ordinary girl following an extraordinary God, learning to seek God's possible in this world of impossible. Fueled by loads of coffee, I'm passionate about helping and encouraging you along this journey, too! Let's step forward together and learn practical ways to live into God's possible! Read More…

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