Beauty For Ashes

09/12/2026

Be Blessed and Encouraged!❤️

09/12/2026

The battle you face most often isn’t external—it’s internal. In this 6-day devotional, you’ll learn how the enemy targets your thoughts, how lies take

09/12/2026

09/11/2026

The battle you face most often isn’t external—it’s internal. In this 6-day devotional, you’ll learn how the enemy targets your thoughts, how lies take

09/11/2026

The Support You Need

Everyone carries burdens. The things we go through shape the way we view the world, and ourselves. But we weren’t meant to carry our burdens alone.

In Matthew 11:28-30 NLT, Jesus says to the people following Him...

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

A yoke is a heavy wooden beam that lies across a pair of oxen, evenly distributing the weight of the loads they carry. But the term was also used by Jewish Rabbis. “The yoke of the law” symbolized complete submission to God’s law, and Rabbis taught that becoming yoked to it would free the Jews from enslavement to the world.

Jesus is using a phrase that His Jewish followers would have easily understood, but then He flips the illustration. He tells the crowd that they must yoke themselves to Him—because He is the fulfillment of their law.

When they do this, the burdens they carry won’t be heavy at all—because He will bear the weight of their burdens. Paul references this teaching in his letter to the Galatian Christians:

“Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2 NLT

The law of Christ is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). But the only way we can fulfill the law of Christ is if we bind ourselves to Him.

When we are yoked to Jesus, He becomes our source of strength. He helps us endure hard situations and enables us to walk away from poor decisions. He fills us up with His love so that we can spill His love out onto others. He gives us the capacity to support other Christ-followers just like He supports us.

Just as Jesus bore our sins and suffering, we are called to bear the suffering of others. In this way, we show them the love of Christ and guide them toward Jesus.

Right now, spend a few minutes talking to God about the burdens you need help carrying, and then allow Him to show you the people in your life He wants you to support.

09/11/2026

Sometimes letting go isn’t giving up.
It’s finally admitting that you cannot control what was never yours to control.

We can spend so much energy trying to control outcomes, people, timing, relationships, and circumstances that were never placed in our hands.

But surrender is not weakness.

Sometimes faith looks like releasing the outcome and trusting God with what you cannot change.

You can control your obedience.
You can control your response.
You can control what you choose to carry forward.

But you cannot control another person’s choices.
You cannot control every outcome.
You cannot control God’s timing.

And you were never meant to.

What God asks you to release may be the very thing keeping you from experiencing His peace.

Let go of the need to understand everything.
Let go of the need to make everything work.
Let go of what God has not asked you to carry.

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” — 1 Peter 5:7

Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is open your hands.

Release it.
Trust Him.
Let God be God.

ion

09/09/2026

09/09/2026

You can’t become everything God is developing you to be while holding tightly to everything He’s asking you to release.

Growth requires surrender.

Sometimes God asks you to release a relationship.
Sometimes a habit.
Sometimes an old mindset, identity, opportunity, or version of yourself.

And the hardest part is that some things you’re holding onto may not be bad, they may simply no longer belong in the season God is leading you into.

You cannot step fully into what God is building while constantly returning to what He is asking you to leave.

Release is not always loss.
Sometimes release is preparation.

Trust that what God is removing does not compare to what He is preparing.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” — Isaiah 43:18–19

Ask yourself:
What am I holding onto that God has already asked me to surrender?

Sometimes the next level of obedience begins with an open hand.

09/07/2026

Be Blessed and Encouraged!