As we go into this season of holidays, I begin to reflect on all that has transpired in my personal world and the worlds of those closest to me. It is only by God's grace that we are still standing, upright, heads lifted to the heavens, full of praise and true thankfulness.

I am thankful for God's grace. I am thankful that when life seemed to look at me and those I love and say, "Ain't no way," God said, "Yes!"

I am thankful that in our sufferings, we rejoiced, knowing that suffering produces endurance (Romans 5:3 ESV).

I give thanksgiving, rejoicing, though for a little while, we have been grieved by various trials, which tested the genuineness of our faith and we now give praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the presence of our appreciation of the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf (1 Peter 1:6,7 ESV)

I am grateful that things that were meant for evil against us, God meant for good and that those hearing how we overcame that evil, through the favor of God, may be saved (Genesis 50:20).

I am so thankful that all of my loved ones, through their suffering, looked to Jesus Christ as an example of perfect faith (Hebrew 12:2 ESV). I am grateful that through tribulation, illness, suffering and great loss we all maintained our dignity and were not ashamed because we believed and are yet convinced (2 Timothy 1:12) that God will deliver all that he has promised to us.

I am so happy that every test was turned into a testimony. Every bit of heartache was endured with prayer, supplication and praise. In every situation we arose as the victor and not the victim.

As we go into the end of this world's calendar year, though I had my share of troubles, me and mine are dancing, singing and praising. All glory and honor to God. The one who kept me in the midst of it all. Can I get a witness?!


~ Written By: V. Franklin

I recently read a quote by Joyce Meyer that said, "You cannot keep the ashes and have the beauty". 

This is her interpretation of Isaiah 61:3. I viewed this as profoundly insightful; as this spoke directly to what my family has experienced over the past five years. 

If you know the story of The Sanctuary you know that I had two very influential people in my life pass away four months apart. One was my Father and the other my maternal Aunt. As a result of her passing, a firestorm broke loose on the maternal side of my family. Once the smoke cleared there were so many casualties, one, being my mother.  And as the fire was smoldering, the ashes of  fear, anger, mourning for the loss of relationships, and despair were floating amongst the ruble. She was left without a job  and many friends and family were gone. Many questioned her integrity and motives. Not only was she dealing with sorrow and grief from losing her only sister and best friend, but she was also dealing with the loss of all she had known for over 25 years. She was in such a dark place. She had to deal with some very hard truths in her life. My sister and I were heavy with so many feelings. To us it seemed as though her life was in ruins and ashes, however,  to God He was ready to grace her with beauty.

Isaiah 61:3 says, 
"To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

I'm sure we have all heard the term beauty for ashes. Do we truly understand what beauty means? The literal meaning of the Hebrew word is an ornament, tiara, or turban. Some translations use the term "crown". That's what God has done for us. Our gracious God sent His son to die on the cross, he exchanged His beauty for the ashes of our broken lives. He came for the poor… the afflicted… the broken-hearted… the captive, to give us a beautiful crown! Ashes in Scripture are a symbol of mourning and repentance.

I am sure many of us have a bonfire going on in our lives and we are mourning and doing some repenting. But His Word says that He will take our mourning and repentance and give us a crown. He will then replace the bitterness and sorrow with oil of joy. Psalm 23:5 says, "Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anoints my head with oil; my cup runneth over". This speaks of God anointing the head with oil. Oil of joy has reference to joy of the heart. Oil represents the kind, sweet, comforting words that give encouragement and new hope to the heart of the wounded. It refers to the healing and protective power and strengthening power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
 
He also promised a garment of praise. This describes the radiance, the happiness, and the sweetness that fill the heart and the life of the child of God who loves the things of God, and lives for the glory of God. This garment is entirely from heaven. The Lord wants to replace our spirit of heaviness with praise.
 
The "Trees of righteousness" and "Planting" He spoke of, is when the people of God are restored, and are again growing and fruitful. 

Isaiah 61:3 is relevant for today as it is God's desire to replace the ashes of loss, bitterness, and sorrow with the beauty of joy, new hope, healing, and strength to the heart. God wants His Holy Spirit and His Word to comfort our heavy spirits. With God's help, we can be restored, move forward with our lives, and again become fruitful and productive. I know this to be true, because I have seen my mother, Minister Rosa Marion, take every last ash and give it to God and He has graced her with beauty. She has birthed a new ministry, "Beauty For Ashes Ministry" in Charlotte, NC and she can truly say that she is experiencing joy, strength, gladness and peace.  You see, there were some things that she needed to deal with within herself and the fire the adversary thought would ruin her brought transformation, refinement and liberty!

I want you to know that if you are in a bad place and feel all burned up, your ashes of a broken life are redeemable for something more beautiful than can be described. In those times of trouble or despair,  turn to the one who loves you, and will always be there for you. Even when you bring an offering of ashes that you think are worthless, He sees you as worth it. Why? He loves you, unconditional.  So today, ask God to give you a new song - a song of praise and the garment of praise.

The Bible says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) But many of us can say that all things are not good. It would be mockery to say that they are. The death of a child is not good. Cancer is not good, drug addiction is not good, betrayal is not good, rejection is not good. However, in the chemistry of the cross God takes things that we considered are bad, and He puts them together, much as a chemist might take chemicals that may be deleterious and mixes them to make a medicine that brings healing.

Many of us have some salt with our meals. Table salt is made up of both sodium and chloride. By itself, sodium is a deadly poison, and so is chloride. Put them together, and you have table salt. Salt flavors food, and a certain amount of salt is necessary for health and life. We cannot live without some salt in our systems. God can take things that are bad and put them in the crucible of His wisdom and love. He works all things together for good, and He gives us the glorious, wonderful promise that He will do so.

Now do not take this one short phrase "all things work together for good" out of context. It does not include everyone, only those who love God, and it is only true in relation to God's purpose in making us more like Jesus. And that does not happen because of bad things, but only when we love God and trust Him even when bad things happen.

What, then, is the good? It is defined for us, initially at least, in v. 29, one of the forgotten verses of scripture: “because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters”. The good is not our comfort, wealth, or health. It is conformity to Christ! This good is then fully defined in the next verse: “And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified”. Ultimately, all things work together to bring each Christian into conformity to Christ, to bring each Christian to glory.

The plan of God is that we become like Jesus and those bad things give us an opportunity to overcome, to walk in love, and to grow into more Christ-likeness. But bad things do not make us more like Christ. It is only when we turn to the Lord (even in the midst of trouble) and allow Him to work in us, that we are transformed into being more like Him.

So those challenges that you are faced with, those circumstances that have you weary from worry, those relationships that you've been betrayed in, that job situation that has caused you major pains, those children that have you beyond stressed…. Is all good because it's for your good and God gets all the glory!