The Ashes | Where the Story Begins

Some parts of life don’t make for pretty pictures. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth talking about.

I wish I could tell you that life always turns out the way we imagine it will.

That if you love God, work hard, make good decisions, and do your best to take care of the people you love, everything will eventually fall into place.

But I’ve lived enough life to know that isn’t always how the story goes.

You still have children who need breakfast, laundry that needs washing, bills that need paying, and responsibilities that don’t disappear simply because your world feels like it’s falling apart.

You still show up.

You still smile.

You still answer, “I’m good,” when someone asks how you’re doing because you don’t have the energy to explain everything that would come after an honest answer.

And somewhere along the way, you begin to wonder if anyone else feels this way.

That’s why The Ashes exists.

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The Things We Don’t Always Talk About

There are plenty of places to find beautiful homes, perfectly planned mornings, happy marriages, organized schedules, and inspirational stories about overcoming life’s difficulties.

And I love those things. I really do.

But I also know there is an entire side of life that rarely makes it into those conversations.

Not because I have all the answers.

Believe me, I don’t.

But because I think there’s something powerful about being willing to tell the truth.

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Faith Doesn’t Make Us Immune to Hard Things

One of the things I’ve wrestled with over the years is the idea that having faith should somehow make difficult circumstances easier to understand. I’m over here trying not to lose faith in the daily struggles.

I believe God is good.

I believe He is faithful.

I believe He can bring beauty from ashes.

But I also believe that sometimes life hurts, and we don’t understand why.

Sometimes we’re disappointed. Sometimes we’re angry. Sometimes we’re tired of being strong, tired of waiting, and tired of trying to find the lesson in everything.

And I don’t believe we have to pretend otherwise.

The Bible is full of people who cried out to God in confusion, frustration, grief, and desperation.

Their honesty didn’t disqualify their faith.

And ours doesn’t either.

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There Is Room for Your Story Here

The Ashes isn’t a collection of perfectly packaged testimonies with beautiful endings.

Some stories are still unfolding.

Some questions are still unanswered.

Some circumstances haven’t changed.

And some days, the most faithful thing we can manage is getting out of bed and doing what needs to be done.

Here, we’ll talk about the hard parts of motherhood, marriage, relationships, finances, faith, identity, and the ordinary disappointments that can quietly change us.

We’ll talk about the things we wish were different and the things we’re still trying to understand.

We won’t turn every difficult experience into a lesson or insist that every painful story needs an inspirational ending.

Because sometimes the ashes are simply ashes.

And we need a place where we can admit that.

But I don’t believe the ashes have to be the end of the story.

Isaiah 61 speaks of God giving beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

That promise is part of the heart behind this space.

Not that every circumstance will work out the way we want.

Not that every loss will make sense.

But that even here, in the middle of what we never expected, God has not abandoned us.

So if you’re standing in the middle of something you never imagined, you’re welcome here.

You don’t need to have a lesson prepared, a testimony finished, or an answer to the question, “What now?”

You can simply come as you are.

This is The Ashes.

And this is where we’re willing to tell the truth.