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.

In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks

that the LORD has planted for his own glory.

Isaiah 61:3

My friend grew up in New York in the mid-1900s. Every so often his grandfather would come to visit. My friend would run to the train station, to greet his grandfather, and to walk back to their house together. His grandfather would always ask, “What do you have in your pocket Danny?” My friend would dig into his pockets, and find something. Sometimes he found a little rock, or a stick, and sometimes there was just a piece of lint. He would  show his grandfather. His grandfather would then reach into his own pocket, where he always found a dollar. “Would you like to trade?”

Our heavenly Father loves to trade us beauty for ashes. God loves to leverage what appear like bad times, to transform them into exceeding good results.

1. Apostle Paul loved to travel, and to plant churches. When he got put in chains, beaten, and thrown in jail, he wrote most of the New Testament. His bad times produced incredible blessings.

2. When Joseph was sold as a slave, this was his ticket to becoming the second most powerful ruler in Egypt.

3. When Abraham left his home and family, and let his nephew Lot choose the luscious rich plains, leaving him in the desert, this was the path to becoming the Father of Christianity, and of much of the Arab world.

4. Jesus permitted Himself to become the ultimate sacrifice for us. He traded His worst experience in exchange for our biggest blessing.

5. When you are in a desperate and potentially horrible place, this never looks like an ideal place to flourish. But God works in mysterious ways. We activate God’s plan with our choices. Our best option during terrible times is to use our will to get closer to Him, which puts us firmly in His plans for us.

On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

ESV Psalm 138:3