Hey, friend, welcome to today's word of encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The devotional for today titled Beauty for Ashes was written by Kenneth Peterson.

In the aftermath of the Marshall Fire, the most destructive fire in Colorado history, one ministry

offered to help families search through the ashes for valuable items. Family members mentioned

precious objects they hoped were still preserved. Very little was. One man spoke tenderly of his wedding ring.

He had placed it on his dresser in the upstairs bedroom. The house now gone, its contents had charred

or melted into a single layer of debris at the basement level. Searchers looked for the ring

in that same corner where the bedroom had been

without success. The prophet Isaiah wrote mournfully of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, which would

be leveled. Likewise, there are times we feel the life we've built has been reduced to ashes.

We feel we have nothing laughed emotionally and spiritually.

But Isaiah 61 offers hope.

He, God, has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to comfort all who mourn.

God converts our tragedy into glory. Verse three assures us that he will

bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, and in verse four, he promises to rebuild the

ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated.

At that Marshall fireside, one woman searched the ashes on the opposite side.

There, still in its case, she unearthed the husband's wedding ring.

In your despair, God reaches into your ashes and pulls out the one truly precious thing, you.

This is today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading. It's from Isaiah

chapter 61, verses 1 through 4. The Spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good

news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the

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