Beauty in the midst of the Ashes
This past weekend I was in the mountains staying at Ridgecrest in the Swannanoa Valley. You may recall several months ago that the area surrounding the Conference Center was hit hard by a wild fire. A lot of the surrounding mountains at Ridgecrest were destroyed by the fire. The Lord protected the buildings on the property, but much of the acreage was marred.
On a walk near the lake on the property I saw many charred trees, but the cool thing was the way new growth was coming up at the base of so many of those trees. New, beautiful, brilliantly colored green leaves were peaking out amidst the ashes. Such a vivid picture of how God amazingly takes a life that has been burned, scarred in countless ways by others, or often as a result of bad choices and gives hope, forgiveness, mercy and grace through Christ and lets His beauty shine through.
"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." Isaiah 61:3
