When we hang onto past hurts and wrongs, it causes us to have a victim’s mindset and it keeps us from getting the best that God has for us. Isaiah 61:3 NKJV says, “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” We have to let go of the “ashes” in our lives. Ashes are what’s left after something has been burned, and in this context “ashes” represent hurt, pain, mistakes, and offenses. But the things that God has for us are better than the things that we’ve lost, so we have to trust God and let go of the ashes in our lives. We must not let a season of mourning turn into a lifetime of mourning!

Until you let go of the old, God cannot bring you the new. So you have to ask yourself, do you want “beauty” or “ashes”? Do you want a new life, or do you want to hold on to your old life? Old habits? Old ways of thinking? Old ways of acting? Isaiah 43:18-19 NKJV tells us: “Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness. And rivers in the desert.” The enemy wants us to spend our whole lifetime sitting in ashes, but God has a beautiful new life for us. Don’t let a negative experience define you. Choose beauty over ashes.