Beauty from Pain

"in the midst of great beauty, there is often real pain.........."

(Those words are found in the devotional What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops? that I'm reading through this month. This morning's reading inspired this post.)

.......beauty from ashes......

                                 beauty with pain..........

..........images flash before my eyes  while my mind turns back to the 1990's and my oldest girl playing with her youngest boy.........preschool heads bent over  paper and crayons, chubby legs running in tall green grass and we moms sipping iced tea talking, laughing, sharing..........

.....husbands bonding during small group lessons and me all worried of the past exposed before this prophetic friend............

............and sharing deeply, intimately the pain of the past............

again, and again, and again........for a year. and then another. and then.........

....................the beauty of knowing 2 friends united with the One Friend who can carry them through this journey...........

but the pain of walking it through and the beauty of God orchestrating the friendship.....one the counselor-listener and me the talker my heartstrings twisted and tangled

 and God the Father unknown. but Jesus the Redeemer-Savior, my Friend.

and the healing....... sweet release of tears and anger and forgiveness....

the letting go and lifting up and the

 feeling God wrap Hands around my heart untangling heartstrings..........

............................... teaching trust

and the peace and joy and and the understanding that God saw, heard, knew.........

"Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces.  Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions." ~Matthew Henry~

God wanted me to see His Power revealed...........

beauty from ashes.............

............freedom...............

"There are a lot of things in life that are difficult  to understand. Faith allows the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see"
~John Maxwell~

this post is dedicated to my friend, Cheryl S.....a beautiful friend through the good and the bad....
...God's orchestration of this friendship will never cease to amaze me.