Get up out of the ashes

BrendaBy Brenda Cannon Henley
Turning on the television in a friend’s home and simply surfing through the channels, I happened to hear Joel Osteen’s positive and encouraging voice. He said, “If something has happened in your life this past year that is hurtful or damaging to you, you are in a position to get to a better place. You simply need to take that first step.”

That might not be Joel’s exact words, but the drift or meaning is there. He went on to say that perhaps you even thought your life was over or that you no longer wanted to live. Life had just become too complicated. The one you love has died. Your finances are a wreck. Your job has played out and you find yourself overdrawn at the local bank. For mothers and fathers, perhaps a child has drifted from the way you would choose for him or her to live. Maybe there are grandchildren that are in trouble or away from the fold. On the other end of the spectrum, perhaps a beloved parent or a family member is facing a struggle that will likely end in their life ending. Maybe the holidays haven’t gone the way you wanted.

He had a message for you and I echo that message today. Get up out of the ashes. Dust your hands off. Shake out your garments. Walk away from the ash heap. Get busy. Go on to the next adventure. Joel’s Scripture reference was from the life of Job, and for those of us who know this beloved old story, we know that this good man had accomplished much in life. In fact when we read Job 1:1, we find that “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” He had seven sons and three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, jobfive hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she asses, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

The day came when Job lost it all, his flocks, his children, his home, his wealth, the means to make more money, and on top of that, his wife came to him when he was sitting in the ash dump with his body covered in sore boils. He was itching and hurting so badly that he was using broken shards of pottery to scratch his own flesh. His wife, the person that should have been his comforter and encourager, said, “Why don’t you just curse God and die?” The Bible teaches us that in all this, Job did not sin or charge (accuse) God foolishly.

Don’t dare not read the rest of the story. God honored the faithfulness of this good man and the end of the story tells us he got back all he had including additional children. He was faithful to God and God was faithful to him for an example for the believers.

If you are sitting in the cold, dirty ash dump as you read this column today, may I encourage you to take the first step out of it. Get up, dust yourself off, clean up, get moving, and find a friend or several that can and will encourage you. God wants His children to be happy. And, in all honesty, I have to confess that I have found myself in the ash dump a bit lately since my Ted died in August. I couldn’t quite get my bearing, but rest easy, I am doing better. Life is good. What I had was good, but God did not die when Ted did. He has great things in store for me and for those I love, and I am heading out to find them, to claim them, to agree with God about them. I ask you to do the same.

Happy New Year to our faithful readers and followers. Let’s make 2015 a very happy, positive, growing year.

(This article published 12/29/2014)

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, at
[email protected], or by using the contact form below.

Contact Brenda Cannon Henley:
[contact-form-7 404 "Not Found"]

Facebook Twitter
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Site by CrystalBeachLocalNews.com