Ashes

Michigan 2017

You gave me everything I’d ever wanted;

And took even more.

How do you live so proud; but kill willingly?

You left nothing behind,

When you robbed me of myself.

betraying my body; and soul.

Futile torment — gas lit, the flames consumed me.

I only knew Despair.

But, Jesus wept.

Tears shed became my sovereign remedy.

Through them I see.

Smoke settled; a great demise,

now a greater triumph.

Birthed from ashes. I am able.

Made of more than what I once was.

Gaining all I lost and my joy in twofold.

I am Crowned with beauty;

Rose petals, in the place of thorns.

“To all who mourn in Israel,

he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,

a joyous blessing instead of mourning,

festive praise instead of despair.”

- Isaiah 61:3