Beauty from Ashes
- kimstanfield
- Aug 7
- 5 min read
"to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."
Isaiah 61:3 TPT
I know from personal experience Jesus Christ has most certainly turned my ashes into something beautiful, my mourning into praise and so much more over the years.
When I was a child growing up, I lived in ‘The Blue Mountain’s’ community west of Sydney that was continually harassed by bushfires every summer and both my father and brother were involved in helping to keep them at bay on different fronts! It was a scary time each summer to know that things and lives were at risk and could be lost.
When I was about 6 and half yrs old there was a very fierce fire that not only came close to our primary school and homes, but many made choices that were (some may say irrational) not good and put others in danger and caused others to fret and fear for their lives.
On the day the fire mentioned above was at its height, parents came to collect their kids from school and as my father was off fighting the fires my heavily pregnant mother walked to the primary school to collect my other siblings (my older brother & sister ) only to be told that my class teacher had panicked and taken myself & one other child left in her care and driven us down the mountains to the major town on the plains (Penrith) – which of course now had my mother and siblings fretting as they had no idea where I was and where the teacher had taken me!
Have you ever lost anything and wondered where it could be? I’m sure we all have at some point.
‘…A woman has ten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it. 9 And then won’t she call in her friends and neighbours to rejoice with her? – Luke 15:8-9 TLB
I lost both my daughters when they were young at shopping centres and oh the sickening feeling in my stomach at that moment. Not good. Loosing something that can be replaced is certainly not as important as a life gone missing.
I believe that my mother and siblings were all worried that night not knowing where I was, if I was safe and if they would ever see me again.
The scripture at the beginning speaks of God’s transformative power, offering comfort and restoration to those who mourn. God knows our situations and when we are in great distress, He sees what is happening. I remember back when I lost my oldest daughter, I had everyone I turned to looking throughout the shopping centre and eventually it was a gentleman from the original store who brought her to me and asked if she was mine. I don’t think I even thanked him; I just grabbed her and walked away – probably thru shear relief!
God knew where she was and I’m sure I was praying desperately under my breath, walking around that shopping centre until she was back. The ‘ashes’ I was feeling were turned into ‘beauty’ when she returned.
God is a good father, and I believe He was aware of where I was back in the bush fire situation in 1968 (see photos & info below) – how He was speaking to my mother’s heart, I have no idea but I’m sure she would have felt comfort and relief when I was returned that evening…. (I believe there was a verbal grape vine going round the community of different ones, phoning and sharing where they believe they thought I had gone to!)
In that same bush fire – the flames only singed our back yard fence and did not get our house but jumped a huge expanse and burnt other places, so God was certainly in control and looking after us.
I am not at all diminishing the impact of what took place, and those that did loose loved ones and homes during that time, but I am pointing out that God was certainly with us through that ordeal.
In the book of Luke it says…
16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17 The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says:
18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”[b]
20 He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. 21 Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today!” – Luke 4:16-21 TLB
Jesus had just experienced being tempted by Satan in the desert for forty days prior to reading that scripture in the synagogue so was acutely heightened by having physically proclaimed the word of God to combat all Satan’s nonsense!
In all that we walk through, even though hard for us – God is still on our side and wants to work with us to bring the silver lining to every situation for us – in His perfect timing.
I have found many circumstances hard to bear, I must be honest but looking back I know God was in the midst of it for my good 😊
· He brought me through these fires mentioned in 1968 to share with you today
· He took me to a country at civil war in 2008 to preach & pray for individuals
· I have walked with my husband through chemo 2011-2012 & we are still praying together today
· I have walked through being targeted via technology 2021 - national financial crimes falsely accused us but later confirmed we were hacked but we still honour the Lord Jesus today
Jesus was falsely accused by others, but we know how that worked out – in our favour! Praise God! Yes, Jesus is totally the answer to every situation and in every circumstance. Amen!
**********
‘Blaxland was the worst hit area on both sides of the highway.
In one nightmare scene at Short Street, Blaxland. flames engulfed five houses and destroyed them within minutes.’ (our same suburb)
‘The bushfires of 1968 dwarfed all others in the mountains before or since. Forty homes at Blaxland were burnt to the ground by a blaze which had its origins at Bilpin in September, moved across to North Springwood in October, headed into the Grose Valley in November then came out again as an inferno which raged down the mountains.’ - https://mtrivrfb.org.au/bushfires-and-mt-riverview/
Comments