ruins
Does your life feel like it is in ruins?
I don’t know about you – but, I don’t have to have a major ‘crisis’ in my life to dwell on the ruins in my life.
Nope.
I most certainly don’t need ‘bad’ circumstances to ruin me… I’m pretty good at it all by myself. {sigh}
Funny how that is. Even on a good day, hurtful words can be said… expectations maybe aren’t met… or, maybe the noise is just too loud… and it all seems to ruin me. I fall flat on my face, sulking in my own hurt and sin.
The wise woman builds her house,
But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
Provers 14:1 NASB
And as much as I long to be the wise woman building up my home… I often find myself being the foolish one and at my own hands tear it down.
ruins.
ugly ruins.
My precious “heart” friend often visits a beach where there are ruins… I don’t know what the ruins were – but, the pictures she shares on Facebook are beautiful with the strong ocean all around and sometimes pouring over the sides.
These ruins seem to tell a story… covered in graffiti with the water rushing over the sides is like the washing and cleansing of these broken walls. They are breathtaking in a way and almost put me in a trans as I wonder what these walls would say if they could speak.
A friend pointed out that in the distance… beyond the ruins – in the ocean, there is a big rock. And, get this… in this big rock there is a cut out the shape of a heart.
Oh – friends. Our Lord is there… here.
He is ready and willing to shower His beautiful love all over us if we would just stop staring at the ruins in our life.
I am a sinner.
I fail miserably at serving those around me… and struggle with my own selfishness. I struggle with bitterness when I need to forgive. And, I hurt those I love most way more than I care to admit.
Ruins.
The ugly.
I’ve shared this passage many times on this blog… it’s what No Longer Ashes is based on and each time I look at it, I see a new truth that simply blows me away. There is so much there about our God taking the ugly… the broken… the hurting… the burnt… the ashes… and trading it for something amazingly beautiful.
See if you can catch what encouraged me this time… hope it encourages you too:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor…
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,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendor.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations…
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.”
Isaiah 61
