Beauty for Ashes

When God changes things, He changes everything. He takes all of the things that we considered ugly, the things that just couldn’t be redeemed, and He makes something beautiful. He gives us beauty for the ashes of our pain. I had never seen such tangible proof of this truth until a couple of nights ago.

 Before this event, I knew God took the bad and created good. I have seen Him do so in my own life and I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it was. And that’s just the problem. No matter how hard I try, I cannot convey the beauty of what God has done to others because they weren’t there. Sure, they can see it and think “What a beautiful thing God did there,” but they cannot know the true weight of it all. And perhaps that is what this will be like but I have to display it anyway. God’s work should always be on display, His glory shining forth through the triumphs and failures of our lives. I’m going to attempt to put God’s glory on display in triumph right now.

 I met most of the girls in our care in a bar somewhere on Walking Street in Angeles City, Philippines. Many of them were working there for various reasons, none because they wanted to be there. Manipulation and coercion are the main causes I have found in my short experience. When I met these ladies, music was playing so loud I couldn’t hear the person next to me shouting. Lights were everywhere, the smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke thick in my nostrils, constant reminders of where I was. Talking to the girls in the bars comes with a cost, literally. You must “order” a girl (a term that disgusts me in the deepest way) and buy her a drink. However, there are occasions when you are invited onto the stage to dance with them. Well, those occasions came to us, though I doubt that is a norm with most clientele. Favor from God is the only way to explain why we were allowed to dance with the ladies. Nevertheless, I met many of the ladies in our care dancing with them in hell.

 The other night, Melissa and I were leading devotions in the Hope House. It was game night, so we prepared a couple games to enjoy together, one of them being a game involving music. Melissa was in charge of the music and soon, Hillsong United meets Techno was blaring through the house and the natural reaction ensued. We all began dancing together, joined once again by music and the movement that comes along. There was one difference from our dancing together now and when we had met- God’s redemptive power was strongly at work in us all. God took something that had been used for harm and used it to show that no matter where we come from, we are never too far gone for God’s love. I was dancing to worship my King with my sisters, dancing to worship their King. Beauty was raining down where once only ash had existed. Dancing may be simply moving your body to the beat of music, real or imagined, but I believe it can be symbolic as well. It was symbolic that night. Our dancing together represented all of the freedom that we have all found in the last two months. When God’s redemption and freedom reigns in our hearts, our bodies follow suit!