“ASHES to BEAUTY”
“Learn from yesterday…
Live for today…
Hope for tomorrow!”
—Albert Einstein—
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“ASHES to BEAUTY”
by Debbie Allen
There’s always going to be days in life when it feels like the enemy of our souls is winning the battles raging against us. As those frustrating moments turn into days…the days roll into years…and the years transform into seasons; our battle-weary hearts cry out in exhaustion and frustration, “How long, O Lord, how long!” (Psalm 13:1). I have heard it said that ‘the complexity of God’s Ways in our life will always be way beyond our own understanding.’ But there is more to this truth than you can even imagine. Every one of those complex circumstances God allows us to encounter in our life; can become for us a snapshot of what it looks like when God’s Hand is in the process of turning our life’s ashes into His Beauty! And by the way, God can use a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g on this earth He chooses, to magnify the realities of His Presence at work in a life…including a vintage hand-dryer, hanging on the wall in a Middle School bathroom!
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“Every one of those complex circumstances God allows us to encounter in our life can become for us a snapshot of what it looks like when God’s Hand is in the process of turning our life’s ashes into His Beauty!”
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Several years ago, one of the teachers I worked with in a local Middle School, shared an unbelievable story with me. It was such a bizarre storyline, I knew God’s Hand must be in it!
The Science teacher politely dismissed one of his students, Suzy, to go to the restroom. On any given day, this incident would’ve been considered an ordinary, uneventful necessity, but not today! As Suzy finished-up washing her hands and stood drying them before the vintage hand-dryer; the extraordinary happened! She turned her head slightly, just long enough to get a better look at a boy walking past her out in the nearby hallway. In that instant, a section of Suzy’s long, blond hair was sucked up…over the top of…and down into the mechanical workings of the unseen side of that hand-dryer! Now a very unexpected prisoner of a very unexpected assailant, Suzy yelled out in pain, pleading for help. A teacher walking by came to her rescue, more than shocked by what she saw going on. Helpless to do anything, the teacher called for the Custodian. The Custodian arrived on the scene, but was unable to disconnect the electricity, or the hand-dryer from the wall. Finally, the school called Facilities, who sent someone higher-up in the district out to find the solution to this never-before-seen scene. Three l-o-n-g hours later, after shutting off the power in the entire school; the last of Suzy’s singed hair was both pulled and cut from the fan blades and heating element inside that hand-dryer.
Suzy’s head suffered a mild concussion from being pulled so fiercely and held so tightly up against the over-heated dryer for so long a time. Throughout the course of the following week, she continued shedding tiny bundles of the loose strands of the hair that was rescued just short of being totally devoured by this ravenous, mechanical monster! Suzy’s head did heal over time. The bruise on her cheek left by the sudden impact, soon faded away. And her hair grew back twice as thick… but it was a long, long, long time before Suzy considered using any of those vintage school hand-dryers ever again!
Sadly, there were many at the middle school, both staff and students, who viewed Suzy’s run-in with the hand-dryer as a simple case of her ‘getting what she deserved.’ You see, the one thing Suzy’s every-day behavior reflected to the world around her was that she was really good at being really bad. It seemed detention was her chosen lifestyle…and trouble was her assigned name. It’s safe to say that Suzy was well known for all the wrong reasons. It wasn’t uncommon to walk down the hallways and hear teachers wagering friendly bets among themselves concerning ‘how long it might be before Suzy ended up in a teen rehabilitation center for criminal activity!’
By the time Promotion Day at the Middle School arrived that year, there was a sigh of relief like no other during the ceremony, the moment Suzy was handed her ticket to go to High School! She seemed just as surprised as the rest of the staff to have received it! Most of those who watched Suzy walk through those Middle School doors one last time…were hoping against all odds, that Suzy didn’t trade-away the golden ticket she’d been given, just to end up walking through a set of doors leading her into a teen rehab center.
That’s been over fifteen years ago, now. Though all of her teachers have retired, and the doors to that Middle School are now closed for good; the story of Suzy’s run-in with that ‘ravenous mechanical monster’ still lives on in the hearts of all who once knew her! I still chuckle even now whenever I think of it! But on the flip side… I never really gave much thought to how Suzy’s real-life story may have turned out. I would’ve guessed it ended ‘badly,’ but if I had…I ‘d have been wrong.
A few months ago, I was going to Physical Therapy for some pain in my lower back. On my way over to meet with my PT, Jason, my eyes locked with another PT there. Though no words were exchanged, I knew in that instant it was Suzy I was staring at! The entire time I knew her ‘trouble’ had always been her favorite pastime — yet here she stood before me in a brand-new light! She was calm, confident, knowledgeable, and caring while working with a patient of her own. Suzy became what no one at the Middle School could’ve ever foreseen years ago…a certified Physical Therapist who now dedicates her life to helping others find their way back from their troubles to a place of healing and wholeness once more. “How ironic,” I thought to myself walking past Suzy. However, before I reached my own PT, just a few steps away, God was already Whispering His Truth down into my heart, “This is My Grace.”
Suzy’s story is nothing short of AMAZING! She defied every wrong and harmful label this world, and the middle school experience ever tried to define her with. Such a grand transformation never takes place on its own. When Suzy’s path and mine intersected again after fifteen years… I felt like God was giving me one of those snapshots of what it looks like when His Hand has been at work in another’s life, turning ‘ashes’ into His Beauty!
Perhaps that transformational work really began in Suzy’s life that day when an unsuspecting Suzy stepped in front of the vintage hand-dryer at the Middle School. Yes…the task at hand was simple and she’d done it hundreds of times. But on that day, maybe God was teaching her something she’d remember for the rest of her life: Who we are trusting-in to help us navigate life and its trials… really matters! Suzy thought she had things under control, but she lost focus. She turned her eyes away from the hand dryer in front of her for a split second; and unforeseen chaos ensued. Rendered helpless, she cried out in pain, but there was no one around her who knew what to do, or how to rescue her. The answer to Suzy’s dilemma came only by calling someone higher-up on the chain of command.
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“Who we are trusting-in to help us navigate life and its trials…really matters!”
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If you look deep enough at the details of the bizarre circumstances surrounding Suzy that day so long ago, you soon begin to see both Suzy, and her experience with the vintage hand-dryer, as a metaphor for living life. There’s always going to be those unexpected waves of chaos that crash over our hearts; making us doubt whether life will ever level-out again. “Is anyone listening!” we cry out in pain, longing only to be heard and rescued from the trauma it brings. It’s in these desperate moments we need to wash our hands of all the things this broken world is telling us about ourselves; about our helplessness, our unworthiness, and our hopelessness. In these moments, our hearts must remember that ‘it matters Who we call on to help us.’ We need to learn to call out to the Highest Authority in all of life. Cry out to God…the Only One Who is able to Speak His Peace and Hope, and Love and Power into our life’s indecipherable chaos. Unlike the vintage hand-dryer, God is not just blowing hot air our way. He’s Breathing His Life-Giving Words and Promises down into our innermost being so our writhing hearts and parched souls may come to know and experience the reality of His Grace in our own troubled times. You and I can trust that every one of those complex circumstances God allows us to encounter in our lives, is destined to become for us, and for others watching us; a snapshot of what it looks like when God’s Hand is in the process of turning our life’s ashes into His Beauty!
“When we are ‘undone’ in our life,
God is ‘not done’ with us…
He’s only ‘begun!'”
–DA–
” Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.” (Jeremiah 17:7)

HEART TRAPPINGS PRAYER:
Dearest Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing even my own unwanted back pain to become the catalyst You used to draw mine and Suzy’s life pathways together once more. Though my encounter with Suzy was brief and wordless…Your Own Whispers to my heart were enough to let me know Your Grace remained in pursuit of her life from the moment she walked out through the doors of the Middle School until now! Forgive those of us at the school that last day, for so wrongly labeling Suzy as, ‘hopeless and destined for a teen rehab for criminals.’ Lord, even then, You in Your Wisdom saw her as the child You created her to become… rescued, redeemed, and now working inside a Physical Rehabilitation Center where broken people find hope and restoration through Suzy’s capable and caring hands! What a beautiful snapshot of Your Grace You’ve given to both Suzy and I to dwell upon for the rest of our days! So, so grateful You are the Author and Finisher of our life stories…and not this broken world! You are and always will be the God Who transforms our ashes in life into Your Beauty unimagined!
In Jesus Name…AMEN
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