When Life Breaks You

When Life Breaks You

Samantha Evilsizer

It was a hard year. Heartbreakin’ hard.

Everything seemed to go up in flames. My heart was burned and the ashes seemed a safe place to fall—and to stay. Unresponsive to encouragement, I sat in ashes a long time. My hands filled with fists of ashes.

I needed to get up; I just couldn’t muster the oomph to do it. Sadness felt natural; sorrow was comfortable. I knew I couldn’t wallow in ashes forever. And here’s the sweet thing: God knew this too. He unwaveringly knelt down next to me and extended a helping hand up. He promised: Give Me the ashes; I’ll do something with them. Something beautiful.

He spoke this message in hundreds of ways, but it wasn’t until I was at a concert that I understood the message He was giving me. It was barely noticeable. Permanently tattooed on the foot of the young woman sitting in front of me was God’s message in a swirly font and dark ink: Beauty for ashes. And there He was. Our God of redemption and resurrection, speaking His timeless message once again—for me, for you. Give Me the ashes; I’ll do something with them. Something beautiful.

It’s now been several years since that concert. I wish I could tie up my story with a pretty bow. Say that I unclenched my fists, gave God the soot, and have been happy-go-lucky ever since. But I won’t—because that’s not the truth.

I want to be real. And real is that it took a long time to see anything redemptive in my heartbreak. Real is also my trust—my faith—in a God who makes life worth living. Even when I can’t wrap my mind around life’s crazy questions, I’ll stay committed to taking Him at His Word, regardless of my circumstances; believing He is a loving Creator who is making beauty in my life even from ashes; hoping for what remains unseen.

I’ll continue to look for His goodness because, truly, the most beautiful thing in the midst of pain is a faithful God. One who stands by. One who redeems—all things. One who creates masterpieces out of muck. A God who took the most hopeless situation and the ultimate death and resurrected hope. Resurrected our hope: Jesus.

Dear Lord, You are my Creator and I know You can work masterpieces out of muck. Today, I recommit myself in hope and faith to You. I’m looking up to You. Thank You for kneeling beside me, ever ready to give a helping hand. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

REMEMBER

Our God is a God of redemption and resurrection, speaking His timeless message once again: Give Me the ashes; I’ll do something with them. Something beautiful.

REFLECT

Consider the ways God is showing you He is exchanging your ashes for beauty. Don’t forget the small ways too.

RESPOND

Take note of God’s redemption today in the extraordinary things we can often take for ordinary: a flower pushing up through the dirt, a baby growing in its mother’s womb, the rain watering the hard ground. Thank God for these things and for the redemption He’s working in your life, even now.

POWER VERSES

Psalm 42:6; Psalm 6:4