Well this is the beginning...

Hello all...this is my first of many blogs about the journey of my life...and how God has been with me every step of the way.

You have to understand I am not a writer, or one who shares my deepest thoughts or feelings with others. However God takes things like that (when we say "I would never share this with others," or "Im totally not a blogger" -which I have said multiple times in the past.) and makes us do them...the exact things we say we are not good at...why? Because then there is no way we can boast in ourselves, but we boast in God- that it is only He that could have done this through us...it's not our own strength.

1 Cor. 1:27-30, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God- that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption."

I have also always said I do not have a good singing voice, so who knows I will probably end up singing on stage at some point...God has a sense of humor!

I also want to explain a little about the title I chose for this blog, "Beauty from Ashes." And no I'm not talking about physical beauty...Isaiah 61:2-3 says,"...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 greive in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness 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."

There is a song sung by Steven Curtis Chapman that says it all really well, and I was just going to post a section of the song, but the whole thing is good so here it is:

Beauty Will Rise:

It was the day the world went wrong
I screamed til my voice was gone
And i watched through the tears as everything
came crashing down
slowly panic turns to pain
as we awake to what remains
and sift through the ashes that are left behind

But buried deep beneath
all of our broken dreams
we have this hope

Out of these ashes...beauty will rise
and we will dance among the ruins
we will see Him with our own eyes
Out of these ashes...beauty will rise
For we know, joy is coming in the morning
in the morning, beauty will rise

So take another breath for now
and let the tears come washing down
and if you can't believe, I will believe for you

Cuz I have seen the signs of spring!
Just watch and see.

I can hear it in the distance
and its not too far away
its the music and the laughter
of a wedding and a feast
I can almost feel the hand of God
reaching for my face
to wipe the tears away and say
"It's time to make everything new."

"Make it all new."

That's most of the song..its pretty much how my life has been the past couple years..and "beauty will rise." I am pretty determined to find the purpose out of everything that has happened, and I may not know the exact reasons until I get to heaven but until then..God will be glorified and, beauty will come out of the ashes.

I feel that through my life's stories God can be glorified, which is the ultimate goal of this blog; that other's can pray for eachother, be encouraged and pray for me.

In the next blog I will share my story. Stay tuned.... :)