Beauty from Ashes Ministries

The Lord your God is with you wherever you go”. (Joshua 1:9)

Leave a Comment / Spirit, Soul, Body Health / By / August 6, 2021

I am sure we can all relate to being afraid. Afraid of talking in public, afraid of being ridiculed or poked fun of, afraid of pain (physical and emotional), and numerous other things. Fear can keep us from doing things we really want to do or be who we really want to be. Fear can control us. 

But, we need to know the the Lord, Himself, is with us when we are afraid and He wants us to stand up against the fear and do it afraid. Fear can not hold us back if God is with us. If God is with us who can be against us? He will be with us every step of the way.

When we feel the fear creeping up we need to stand up to it and “do it afraid” because He says “Be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”. (Joshua 1:9)

 

Stress….what to do!!

Leave a Comment / Spirit, Soul, Body Health / By / December 20, 2021
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What does stress look like? It can look like and acted out in SO many different ways! It can be displayed by crying, yelling, overeating, under eating, or a number of different ways. None of us express our stress in the same way. But, no matter how you express yourself when in a great deal of stress it is real! Stress can become anxiety…which is real and it can become depression…which is real. We live in a world that can become so overwhelming. Our bodies react by releasing hormones and chemicals that will affect the way our bodies feel. They can cause us to sweat, our heart rate to increase, to feel lightheaded or dizzy, to have a foggy brain and and numerous amount of other functions that make us feel awful!!

It’s happened to me. I didn’t want my body to react that way, but it just did! 

I am so thankful God has given us a way to combat stress, depression, and anxiety! He has given us doctors who can help. But our first line of defense should be the tools the Lord has given us to fight with. Here are just a few. 1) The Word. The Word of God is alive and powerful to use in a fight against stress and its symptoms. (Heb 4:12) . Find some scriptures you can meditate on and memorize to speak out loud before stress becomes overwhelming. 2) Put on the armor of God every day (Eph 6: 10-18) 3) Contact elders to pray for you. There is nothing stronger and more powerful then praying in agreement. (Jms 5:14). 4) Find fellowship and a tribe you can trust. It is a proven fact that you become like the 5 people you spend the most time with. (Col 3:13,14). 

There are also some things you can do to help with stress, anxiety and depression you can do at home to help. 1) Take deep breaths. In count to 6; out count to 6. This will help calm down stress hormones and release hormones that that relax you. 2) Do grounding therapy by walking barefoot on the ground. We have electrical impulses that will change when walking barefoot. The earth has a mild negative charge to it and over time, especially now days, our bodies build up a positive charge. Direct contact with the earth can even out this positive charge and return the body to a neutral state.

God is so good!! 

Contact me if you want more information on helping deal with stress, depression and anxiety.

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / July 23, 2021
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The Bible says “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” Luke 6:45. It also says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life…” Proverbs 4:23. 

I have tried so hard to protect my heart from being so hurt and heavy that hurtful words come from my mouth.  Those are the times I need to repent. And, forgive. Forgive the other person and also forgive myself. 

Life should be what flows from our heart and come out our mouth. Sometimes I think we can have enough self control to keep our mouths shut when we want to say something hurtful BUT what about our hearts? Our hearts are fragile! Our hearts need to be protected because out of our heart springs life, out of our heart flows the issues of life. If we are not careful what flows out of our mouth is not good or helpful. And, by that point our words do not produce life anymore. 

The Lord is so faithful ! He can take words we might regret and cause pain to someone else and  turn the situation to some thing good.  He allows us see and clean out the dirty corners of our hearts .

Asking forgiveness from someone our words have hurt is sometimes hard. Especially if it feels justified and if we feel we are in the right. But, just know that if the abundance of our hearts comes out your mouths and it hurts someone, we are in the wrong. We cannot control what comes from others. We can only control and be responsible for what we do and say.

Thank you, Jesus! Thank you we can do all things because You strengthen us!

Tune in your spiritual ear to hear

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / July 14, 2021
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Have you ever answered you phone and the person started talking without saying who they were and you didn’t recognize the voice? When this happens, I bet the other person on the phone is someone you don’t talk with often. But, if a spouse, child, parent or best friend called you, I am sure you would recognize them right away. 

That would be the same as when we hear from God. If you listen for Him often then you will recognize His voice. We could be spending a lot of time in prayer talking to Him … and that is great but how much time do you spend listening for Him?

I’ll admit sometimes it is very hard to hear Him. There is so much noise in my head (haha!) When I hear Him the clearest is when I sit quietly and intentionally clear all the thoughts so I can hear Him. But, He will also speak through scripture, and through other people. To know His voice you need to have your spiritual ears tuned. The Word says his sheep will hear His voice. We are His sheep!

There will be times when you question hearing  from God.  Sometimes you just have to step out in faith and the God will confirm it. Ask yourself; 1) does it line up with the Word? God will never speak contrary to His Word; and 2)if it is not addressed specifically in the Bible; Is it in line with His character?  

As much as we love to talk to God in prayer, we need to love and practice listening too.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / July 8, 2021

 

 

In John 14:6 Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Heaven is attainable in only one way and that is to have a relationship with Jesus. It’s not about religion but a real relationship. He is the way!

It doesn’t matter what religion you call yourself. You might say you are a Full Gospel, or a Baptist, or Catholic, or Non Denominational. You might know all about Jesus. But, do you know Jesus personally? Even the devil knows all about Jesus but he is Jesus’ enemy.

Once you know the truth, the only truth, Jesus, the religion you claim to be just doesn’t really matter anymore. Instead of belonging to a religion or church you belong to the family of God. A daughter of the king. You become heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus. When you become a child of God your real life begins! 

We should start celebrating Spiritual birthdays, the day our spirits were born again!! And, what a day to celebrate!!

 

Choose joy, today!

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / July 2, 2021

Choose joy, today! So many times we let what happens around us dictate to us how to feel. Have you ever woke up not feeling so well and said to yourself  something like “today is going to be such a bad day. I am feeling crappy”.  And, every time that happens it is exactly what kind of day you will have. Some kind of self fulfilled prophecy…HUH?

God has given us the ability to choose how we want to look at the hard, complicated, and stressful times in our lives. It’s so much easier to be negative, and not fight against it than to choose to look at the positive and be happy and content in all situations. Some can be so hurtful, hard and complicated! When we have God on our side we are more than conquerors and can be the victors in any and all situations. We can do all things because Christ will strengthens us.

We are not slaves to our feelings! Don’t wasted time being unhappy, angry or bitter over something.  It takes so much physical energy to stay that way. Not to mention its affects on your physical health with all sorts of diseases and sorted health problems.

Let’s do our best to choose joy, choose forgiveness and choose to seek and live in peace.

Seek Jesus and his Word if you are finding it hard to choose joy. He is faithful and merciful and loves us so much. He will help us and guide us and give us peace that surpasses understanding. He wants us to lean on Him and receive what He has for us.

Speak God’s Word into your circumstance

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / June 29, 2021

God’s spoken word, from us, is so much more powerful than what we really understand. His Word (the Bible) is powerful, living  and sharper than a two edged sword. The Word can divide our soul from our spirit and can discern our thoughts and intents of our hearts. Only the Word can do that.   

When we pray God’s Word and speak it into and over our lives, it will accomplish what God has purposed it to accomplish. Find a scripture, God’s Word, to speak into your circumstance. Meditate on it day and night. Make it part of yourself. Pray it and speak it out loud. Believe it!

Nothing is too big or too little for our God to handle. NOTHING! He cares about every situation we face. Big and small. And, there is a Word of God that can use fight every situation we face.

 

 

I will choose to praise Him in the hallway

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By / June 24, 2021

Sometimes it is so hard to wait on what the Lord has for us to do or where to go. Have you ever felt like He was leading you somewhere but the doors you thought were going to open, didn’t? 

I have. In fact, I am feeling that way right now. I am sure the Lord has directed me to begin this ministry. I have taken steps of faith not knowing what might happen or where it will lead me. And, not only me but my family….scary!! But, I will continue to move forward believing God is leading me. It becomes my choice to either stand in fear and try to MAKE something happen that I want to happen. Or stand still knowing God will open the doors that need to be opened and close the doors that need to be closed.  And, then by faith walk through those doors.

I choose joy and peace today knowing God will take care of me no matter what. And, I choose to praise Him in the hallway while I wait.

What does it mean to be “in Christ”?

Leave a Comment / Just Thoughts / By / June 17, 2021

Who are we now?

When you accepted Christ into your life you changed. Maybe not to others but a change did happen in you. Your identity changed. Christ came to live in you. Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (NKJV)

“It is not longer I who live…” What does that mean to us? It means that we died into the life of the first Adam and were reborn into the life of the new Adam, Jesus Christ. What does that life look? It means that every day we remember who is in us. We declare who we are out load. “Christ lives in ME!” The same powerful Spirit that God used to raise Jesus from the dead lives in us. Wow! That Spirit is so powerful that it caused the earth to shake, the curtain to tear, rocks to split, and raise saints from the dead! Matthew 27: 51-53 – “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were open; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (NKJV)

If that power can do all that, don’t you think it has the power to heal you? So, why do we walk in sickness. Many reasons but one is that we have not grasped the idea of the relationship we now have with Christ.

I’ll go into more of this later. But today, I just want you to meditate on what I said and what Galatians 2:20 means to you. Feel free to comment below.

Peggy