It was our wedding passage—one God had spoken to me the night we got engaged and one our pastor “happened” to surprise us with on that day.
I had waited an awful long time to get married. It felt like a journey paved with ashes of my broken and lonely heart at times. And yet God brought forth a ministry from this season of waiting and delivered to me the most beautiful relationship that honored and glorified Him.
And now, after the ashes of loss He has brought us this most beautiful sight—our baby girl adorned with none other than a crown of beauty. She sits next to this promise in Scripture and our wedding rings—the symbol of our promise to each other.
Are you waiting for something? Have you experience loss? Have you lost relationship after relationship? Have you lost a child? Have you lost hope?
My prayer is that you would be encouraged by this passage of truth–that it would stir in your heart an unexplainable peace in the midst of the waiting, that it would fill you with a bold confidence in the One who is holding you and all of your dreams and desires in His hands.
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
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.
– Isaiah 61:1-3
He is the God who brings beauty from ashes and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. May we wait with grace and welcome our blessings with the most humble gratitude.
