He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.

Isaiah 61:3

Sunday morning, May 19, 1980, I awoke at 8:00 AM to total darkness that the sun couldn’t penetrate. Mount St. Helens had blown its top the day before. We had watched the changing shapes of ash plumes from a distance, and it was beautiful. But the day the wind carried all that ash and dumped it all over western Washington, it was anything but beautiful. Every tree, lawn, flower, and home was smothered with heavy, dark gray ash. We wore dust masks to protect our lungs, but the abrasive ash bore into our pores, our floors, our furniture, and our cars. It seemed to penetrate every aspect of life, and it felt like that ugly darkness, that grit, would never end.

But God promises a crown of beauty for ashes. He promises that beauty will replace sadness. No matter what circumstances weigh us down, He will guide us through them and never leave our side. He will take our present mess, our ugly pile of ashes, and create something beautiful. Because He uses unlikely things in unremarkable circumstances to do extraordinary, unimaginable things!

That year of the eruption, the flowers never really came back. Summer was hot and ugly and gray. But the following spring, the grass was vibrant green, and flowers bloomed in glorious, radiant colors. Little did we know that all that ugliness, all that heavy ash, was loaded with nutrients that regenerated the soil and gave the plants and trees what they needed to grow big and produce not only beautiful flowers, but also abundant fruit. And God proved once again that He makes beauty from ashes. 

God’s grace is enough to give you the strength to push through any darkness and heaviness and grit. When you hand Him your ashes and trust Him to make something beautiful, He will do just that. Because God uses unlikely things in unremarkable circumstances to do extraordinary, unimaginable things. Your life will overflow with beauty, your faith will grow big, and you will produce abundant fruit! You are loved!