Beauty for Ashes: A Journey from Brokenness to Wholeness Through God’S Love

By Melanie DeVaughn Ivey

Have you often battled with feelings of emptiness, insecurity, confusion, and hurt? Those feelings are often signals to draw closer to God with an open heart and open arms. Living in frustration, confusion, pain, and hurt is the enemys goal because he doesnt want you to know the truth about how God sees you. This book helps prepare you to journey through your discovery of how to replace the ashes of your experiences, hurts, pains, disappointments, and inadequacies with the beauty in God that can only be obtained through an intimate relationship with Him. God will reveal the beauty in every experience. He desires for each of us to live and operate in our true authenticity revealed in the Word of God. Discover how brokenness can be replaced with wholeness and purpose from God. God will give you the beauty of wholeness, truth, righteousness, love, joy, peace, patience, and longsuffering. Isaiah 61:3 NLT

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 16, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512710595

Melanie DeVaughn Ivey

As the oldest of three siblings, Melanie has always had a passion for creating her own path and being a leader for impactful change. She has a heart for God and helping people learn more about Him and how He sees us as His children. She is the founder of the Halo Heart Movement LLC, an inspirational firm that focuses on providing positive images and messages about authenticity, self- empowerment, and leadership. Contact: Email: [e-mail] Visit : www.haloheartmovement.com To Follow Her: Twitter: @HaloHeartMvmnt Instagram: HaloHeartMovement

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Copyright © 2015 Melanie DeVaughn Ivey.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-1060-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1061-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-1059-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015914375

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/15/2015

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: What Are Ashes?

Chapter 2: Self-Evaluation and Inner Shift Work for God’s Purpose

Chapter 3: Preparing for the Shift from Ashes to God’s Beauty

Chapter 4: God’s Beauty Tips for Adversity

Chapter 5: God’s Beauty Tips for Brokenness

Chapter 6: God’s Beauty Tips for Condemnation

Chapter 7: God’s Beauty Tips for Emptiness

Chapter 8: God’s Beauty Tips for Fear

Chapter 9: God’s Beauty Tips for Sorrow

Chapter 10: God’s Beauty Tips for Tribulations

Chapter 11: God’s Beauty Tips for Weakness

Chapter 12: God’s Beauty Tips for Worry

Chapter 13: God Is Everything You Need!

Introduction

When we are children, we are full of limitless possibilities and endless dreams about what we want to be when we grow up and how we will impact the world. Sometimes, depending on the environment in which you grow up in, your childhood thoughts, aspirations, dreams, and ambition can be warped, twisted, and altered into different beliefs and viewpoints that are far from those limitless ideas and dreams you originally dreamed about in your childhood years. For me, this was especially true during my adolescent years. I was subjected to a lot of different opinions and viewpoints in my high school and college years that affected my actions and responses to people and situations. During these years I felt frustrated and empty, trying to live up to everyone’s opinions and input about what was best for me based on their beliefs. As a result, I lived to please others and to gain acceptance from people instead of standing up for my own beliefs and viewpoints. Back then I didn’t know that my thoughts, opinions, and feelings were important and meaningful, because I was never encouraged to share them with anyone. My experience led me to believe that I should do what they say without asking questions. Back then I definitely didn’t understand why I existed, and I didn’t have a relationship with God. Without that relationship, I couldn’t understand how God viewed me in His Word. Nor did I understand the value God placed on my existence. During those years, I had no clue that I existed to fulfill the purpose God placed in me before I was born. I didn’t know that before the foundation of the world, God had predestined me to serve Him for His glory! Looking back, having no voice in anything pertaining to my existence was tough and crippling in many ways. However, without that experience, I wouldn’t be able to share my heart with you about how God transformed my life. I wouldn’t be able to share what I’ve learned: that God is always near no matter what you have experienced in any stage of your life. I’m a living testimony that you are not your past, you are not your current circumstance, and you are not who people say you are. God is your Creator, and He is the authority on who you are because you are made in His image.

God has made me a new creature, and He has shared and continues to share so much life, love, and wisdom with me. In this book, I am sharing some of the wisdom and the Word God has shared with me during my journey to enjoying wholeness, loving