Beauty for Ashes

Once again- God blesses with the blogs.....
I hope the authors do not mind- me taking their words... but they have been so helpful... and in these times when it is still hard for me to get my mind around my own thoughts... I do so want to have a record of where my God is leading me ... and the path that I KNOW will lead me to the High Places.....


Kerry Hasenblag

http://www.kerryhasenbalg.typepad.com/

April 03, 2009
God's Rate of Exchange
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4
Oh, Lord, may this truly be the “one thing” we ask and desire above all else. We desperately need the beauty and wisdom of your presence to replace our pain and confusion.

“Beauty for Ashes. Life for death. Cleansing for sin. Joy for sorrow. These are God’s rates of exchange. These are the necessary funds that we are to bring in our commerce. Our minds do not perceive nor comprehend this divine exchange, but our spirits know and rejoice. We have nothing to bring but these products of our old nature, but God turns them to beauty, to joy, to hope. We must choose to see and behold how blessed are those who trust in God.” (Helms excerpt)
If we will take the “risk” and “let go” of the ashes, the death, the sin and the sorrow that so many of us are carrying around, if we will turn them over, entrusting them into the Hands of the Lord, we will “know” at last that what we receive in exchange from His hand is freedom, healing, joy, beauty and life!
In my writings several years ago, I was addressing some of the unexpected and difficult issues that can arise in the adoption process or in the lives of orphaned children. In this series, I shared a story about a boy with broken toys who was seeking the toymaker for help. And I believe this story is applicable not only in the disappointments we often face in serving vulnerable children but also in many other aspects of our Christian walks as well.
We know God is at work giving us beauty for our ashes, but sadly, there are many times when the ashes seem to remain even after we have poured our hearts and souls into a cure.

There once was a boy who had many broken toys. So, this boy took his toys to the toymaker and asked, “Will you fix my broken toys?” The toymaker replied, “I most certainly will.” The next day the little boy looked at his toys and much to his disappointment he saw that his toys were still broken, so he asked the toymaker again, “Will you please fix my broken toys?” And again the toymaker replied exactly as He did the first time, “Yes, I most certainly will.” The following day the boy looked and once again found that his toys were still broken. So, he decided to ask the toymaker a different question, “Sir, if you said you would fix my broken toys, why have you not done it yet?” And the toymaker answered, “Because you will not let go of them!”

In order for God to turn our ashes into beauty, we must be willing to let go and entrust our ashes to Him! As we bring our ashes to the foot of the cross, let us believe that He will be faithful to exchange our ashes for beauty in His time and in His way.
And when we are wiling to take this "risk" and really "let go"of our controlling and fearful grip on these things, we will finally have the opportunity to “see” for ourselves how things work in the Lord’s economy. And I believe the experiencing of this exchange process is what builds our trust in God and teaches us to desire His blessed presence with an undivided heart in all things and above all things.

(Recommended Reading for those struggling - "Let Go" by Francois Fenelon)