April begins.

A new month.

A chance to start fresh.

But maybe you're entering April carrying something from before —

something that feels like ruin.

A relationship that burned.

A dream that didn't survive.

A version of yourself you thought you'd still be.

Isaiah 61:3 carries a promise for exactly this.

God gives beauty for ashes.

The oil of joy for mourning.

A garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness.

He takes the burned things —

the painful things,

the hard things,

the things you thought would disqualify you —

and He makes something beautiful from them.

This is not a spiritual cliché.

This is the testimony of countless women

who stood in the ruins of their lives

and watched God build something they never could have imagined.

You are not too far gone.

Your situation is not too broken.

Your story is not over.

Give Him the ashes.

Every last one.

He is the God who makes things new.

Prayer:

God, take the ashes of what I've been through and make something beautiful.

I trust You with all of it.

Amen.