Beauty from Ashes is a study that I wrote and then delivered both online through Tworship Indoors and through my local church this summer. It’s a great blessing when I am given an opportunity to share how God has worked directly in my life and then see it replicated in the lives of others. The greatest blessing is having the tables turned and being blessed in return.

This must be a part of what Jesus meant when he directed us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). I had these kinds of experiences with my neighbors at Trinity Evangelical Church in Peterborough, NH and with neighbors from all over the world online. I think of the Holy Spirit as a busy fellow because when He shows Himself so obviously, He shines His light on everyone in the area, not just on the more likely targets.

To everyone who participated in any fashion in the study locally or online, know that you showed me God’s “beauty”, His poetry in your lives; I thank you for that. May God rain down blessings for 1,000 generations on you and yours.

Special thanks to my wife Laurie @mrsmcProdigal for her help delivering Beauty from Ashes locally and to my old friend Marie @spreadingJoy for her assistance online.

Beauty from Ashes Summary:

• It’s about God.
• Everything is connected.
• Everything matters.

Sources:

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship [poiema: poetry], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We searched for these truths in the lives of major Old Testament characters.

• Jacob
• Joseph

Example: How did God show his poetic touch by having the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker thrown into the prison Joseph was in?

• Moses
• David

Example: How does God show His poetry by sending Jerusalem’s ne’er-do-wells to join forces with David in his cave?

• Elijah
• Ruth & Naomi
• Esther

Our theme music is below.

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I recently was tweeting with a friend when, out of nowhere, it hit me that she had been a victim of sexual abuse. I’m aware such victims have lived with false shame under a cloak of privacy for many years in some cases and do not want their privacy violated, so I approached cautiously. I asked general questions about her past and slowly got more specific, then she knew that I knew.

This is not a new experience for me and it’s no experience that I would seek, but it happens regularly anyway, about once per month, but this time was entirely different.

First, a counselor became the next person that God pointed out and she responded with the usual outburst of joy when she realized I knew before she told me. This was no sign though. Since she is a trained counselor or because she’s very intuitive, she was able to recount the phases she had passed through when dealing with abuse with great precision and insight. The light bulb went on for me when she said: “If you’ve been abused by a male, at some point you have to confront that by choosing to trust a male again, a man who knows your past.” Now I know, God points me to abuse victims who are ready to trust a male again. This is the common thread that ties them together.

Secondly, my response to the idea that my ministry was primarily to women who had been abused was a faithless but, nevertheless, enthusiastic talk with two close friends that went something like this: “No, no, no, no way, I’m male! I’ll have no credibility! Why me? No, NO WAY!”. Picture me shaking my head and talking over everyone, holding my hand up as if to ward off the obvious truth. The Spirit kept reflecting that I was talking nonsense like Moses, as if God had made a poor choice. God normally gives me three things though, I thought, to confirm direction.

Thirdly, I was listening to Hosanna (IBC) and one up-tempo part kept leaping out at me, I felt moved when it played. I couldn’t understand the words though, so it made no sense.  God DOES have a sense of humor.  God’s third confirming message was in the words I couldn’t understand. When I looked up the lyrics, here’s what I found:

Heal my heart and make it clean,
Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like You have loved me,
Break my heart with what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom cause

The lyrics illuminate the path of someone with a broken heart that ministers to broken hearts.

Why would God give me the gift of discernment, the supernatural ability to determine, in my case, if someone has been an abuse victim? I believe that the Spirit directs this process for three reasons:

1. I am a reluctant participant.

2. I have information about a person I am unlikely to perceive on my own, information that is later confirmed as true 100% of the time.

3. The result of this exchange is that the abuse victim feels great joy and connection to God. They are freed from the burden of telling someone and simultaneously see that I do not reject them because of the abuse.

Why would God shout so obviously to me? The problem of abuse is epidemic and workers must be raised up, even reluctant workers. Roughly 1 in 3 women are victims of some kind of abuse at some time in their life and 1 in 5 men.

For more on determining God’s will beyond reasonable doubt, see Good Will Hunting.
Do you know that you’re doing exactly what God wants you to do? Are you seeing supernatural results? Tell me your story.

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Social media produces traffic in a way that is unprecedented. It has surpassed both Google search and pornography as the most frequent activity online. Traffic is generated more often from solid followings in Twitter, Facebook, et al than by any other means.

What does this mean for Christians online who earnestly seek God’s will for their time? It means volume and access. If you want to minister to atheists, you need only search for them in Twitter or include #atheist in your hashtag and you have a ministry. If you want to minister to persons who are abused or who have financial need, you can find them as well.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

You are God’s workmanship, that is, perfectly suited for the tasks that He crafted you for in eternity past. You are not creating ministry, you are hunting for your spot in the center of God’s good will for your life. If God has prepared you perfectly for good works, don’t you think he made the opportunities recognizable?!

Don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you. Oswald Chambers

If God has already prepared your good works in His will then don’t you imagine that things will go well for you if you step forward in faith into His ministry and/or His opportunities for you?

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

If ALL things have been worked together by the Master Designer and if your good works were prepared in advance for you, doesn’t it logically follow that ALL things that have happened in your life have led you to a place where God’s preordained good works can begin?

What is God’s good will for your life, for your personally crafted journey? Look “one inch in front of you”. What has the sum total of all things in your life experience prepared you to do? Nothing in your life is an accident, God didn’t slip up in your worst moments in the past, He used those, too.

My journey has been a prodigal journey, perfectly preparing me to walk prodigals just far enough back that God runs to them and my ministry is to parents who have prodigals who have not returned. The length of my prodigal run gives them hope for their children who have not yet returned but who have been prodigal for a shorter period of time. Do you see it, there it is, one inch in front of my face?!

If you hear hoof beats, look for a horse, not a zebra. Paraphrase of Occam’s Razor

If your history includes abuse, you may have a ministry to the abused, you know their journey and have instant credibility with a group that suffers silently hoping someone like you will approach them someday. If your experience includes infidelity or being victimized by infidelity, then there are people in enormous pain one inch in front of you, approach them, seek them.

Please use your life as your cheat sheet for God’s will for you and God’s prearranged good works will start to happen. Find a group that you can help, you’ll have real power to change lives within the roadmap God has already drawn with your own life experience.

Richard @mcProdigal

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