top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureJill Jarrell Newsome
    • Nov 3
    • 2 min read

Get Ready, Get Set, Jump!

In the beginning of thinking about beginning a new ministry, Hope in Him, I shared that I felt like I was jumping out of a plane without a parachute. That is faith. God brought the dream team to prepare the jump for a safe landing. Then when I jumped, which took a lot of faith, He was holding me. At first it took my breath and I just wanted to soak it in. How long had I waited for His perfect timing? And now what a beautiful view I was looking at, just as He planned!


Not only was it a beautiful view Saturday morning but I continue to see how things make sense. God truly brings beauty from ashes! Ashes are often a symbol of repentance and grief. Life is hard and is sometimes harsh! Sometimes we wonder where God is or why He doesn't stop this struggle. I am sure Job, Daniel and Tamar thought the same thing. Job loved and honored God and everything crumbled around him. He lost everything dear to him. Job 2: 3, "...he sat in the ashes." Daniel suffered under captivity and asked God to have mercy on them. He repented and confessed his need for God, knowing where his strength came from. Daniel 9: 3, "So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes." Tamar, David's daughter, had trusted and she was betrayed. She was raped and left on her own, alone with no hope for her future. 2 Samuel 13: 19, "Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went."


During deep grief, betrayal, illness, uncertainties, and shattered hope, God is there, in the midst of it all. We may not always see it or feel it but He is there and He promises to bring beauty from ashes. Isaiah 61: 3, "Isaiah 61: 3, "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."


0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

While preparing a talk for older adults I was sharing about generational blessings handed down by my dad and his mother. I am where I am because of their (and others) planting seeds of the Gospel to m

There was a teacher's assistant who hurt many children - emotionally by bullying. Through the years I have heard many stories. The first red flag was when my eight year old played school and always mi

I think we can all agree that we have a ways to go to pray like Jesus but we should be growing in our prayer life. Prayer is a two way conversation. Sometimes that is hard because we want to do all of

bottom of page