Beauty for Ashes , livre ebook

Inspiring Voices - J. Weston Sharon

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

83 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

We live in a world full of pain and bitterness. The daily headlines show a tide of distrust, discord, and disharmony sweeping across the globe. People of faith can be effective in such an environment, but only if they recognize that pain and perplexities abound wherever real people encounter the real struggles of everyday existence. In Beauty for Ashes: Portraits of Faith, you will meet some remarkable women with incredible stories of faith and redemption. They are not celebrities. Their names and faces do not grace the covers of the magazines in the grocery checkout line. They are everyday women who have faced a variety of trials not unlike those everyone faces. In their darkest hours, they turned to God and discovered that he was the only hope that remained. They surrendered their lives to his love, mercy, compassion, and goodnessand God did not fail them. God has helped them to become extraordinary women of faith, courage, and strengthable to reach out in love and compassion to others who are struggling and offer them the same hope that they have found. By working through ordinary people who are facing the sometimes overwhelming issues of daily life, God lets the world know that there is hope beyond the struggles and heartaches that can leave us feeling hopeless. Come and walk with these women and let their faith and stories touch your heart. You will discover renewed hope and strength for your own journeyand perhaps even more.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Inspiring Voices
Date de parution	25 octobre 2011
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781462400157
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0240€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Beauty for Ashes

Spirit Flower
Portraits of Faith
SHARON J. WESTON

Copyright © 2011 Sharon J. Weston

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 publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Inspiring Voices books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

Inspiring Voices
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.inspiringvoices.com
1-(866) 697-5313

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4624-0014-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4624-0015-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011940109

Printed in the United States of America

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 10/18/2011
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Prologue
Portrait I:
Robin
PORTRAIT II:
Betty, Part I
Betty, Part II
PORTRAIT III:
Nancy
PORTRAIT IV:
Lynn
PORTRAIT V:
Priscilla
PORTRAIT VI:
Gene
PORTRAIT VII:
Marie
PORTRAIT VIII:
Nancy Elizabeth, Part I
Nancy Elizabeth, Part II
PORTRAIT IX:
Karin
PORTRAIT X:
Jan
PORTRAIT XI:
Suzanne
PORTRAIT XII:
Ada
PORTRAIT XIII:
Heather, Part I
Heather, Part II
PORTRAIT XIV:
Bev
PORTRAIT XV:
Mary
PORTRAIT XVI:
Phoebe
PORTRAIT XVII:
Jinny
Afterword
Acknowledgements

To my mother, Loretta Beckwith Weston, whose courage,
faith and strength have been an inspiration to me all the days
of my life and whose unfailing love, support and encouragement
have challenged me to be more than I ever expected to be;
and
To my son, David William Weston, whose presence in my
life for the past 27 years has given me more love, more joy,
more hope and more reason to become all I can be than
I ever dreamed possible;
You have been and always will be the wind beneath my wings.

Foreword
I was deeply touched to be asked by Sharon Weston to write the foreword to Beauty for Ashes: Portraits of Faith . Quite honestly, however, I was also intimidated at the thought of how I could possibly bring to life the reason this book was written.
Then I realized, beloved Reader, that it is you who gives this book its meaning if you allow God to speak to your heart through the “voices” of the women in these pages.
Many of these women are dear to my heart, including Sharon Weston. I met Sharon almost a decade ago, and our friendship continues to grow as we travel together this journey of faith.
Sharon has a kind and gentle way about her that immediately puts others at ease. Once you meet her, it is obvious that God’s Holy Spirit lives within her.
Sharon has a calling for women’s ministry. She has led many women’s retreats and has been involved in other women-related ministries. She recently returned from three weeks in Zambia, Africa, where she was part of a mission team serving in an orphanage, a school and a women’s empowerment center.
God placed this book on Sharon’s heart several years ago. It is a huge blessing to me to see it come to fruition and to know that it now rests in your hands.
It is my prayer that you will feel God’s love for you through the faithfulness of Sharon and the other women in this book who have heard and answered God’s call to share their stories with you. May God’s healing touch be upon you.
Robin L. Forbes
Certified Lay Speaker
United Methodist Church

Preface
The way of faith is not an easy one. Hebrews 11:6 states: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
This book has been commissioned by God. In its pages you will find the faith stories of seemingly “ordinary” women whose faith in God has given Him permission to work in their “everyday” lives to help them become remarkable women of extraordinary courage, strength, perseverance, grace and love. Like some of those described in Hebrews 11, God has brought them from ashes to beauty, transforming their lives in such a way that they now reflect His glory and serve as shining inspirations to others.
**************
On a personal note, I have been writing since I was six years old, but I enjoy writing fiction. Nonfiction has held little appeal for me. In fact, I had laid aside my writing altogether when my son, David, was born 27 years ago, and since then had written very little.
In the spring of 2005, I began to realize that the Holy Spirit was preparing me to begin writing again. Although the only thing I had ever dreamed of being was a writer, I had given it up and decided that I was just not meant to write. When I began to feel those stirrings within me again after such a very long time, I was stunned and wary. I prayed about it and told the Lord that, if He wanted me to write, He would have to tell me what to write about, and I left it with Him.
Although the thought of writing again never left me, I put it on a back burner, feeling that if I was truly hearing from God, He would let me know in His own time what He wanted me to do with the idea. In the meantime, He had given me a women’s retreat ministry, Garments of Praise Ministries, to start, and I was fully occupied with that. The retreats are based on Isaiah 61, and there was an initial series of three weekend retreats: “Beauty for Ashes”, “Oil of Joy for Mourning” and “Garments of Praise for a Spirit of Heaviness”.
One evening in March, 2006, as I was driving home from work, the following words dropped into my mind: “Beauty for Ashes: Portraits of Faith”. I was so startled that I almost drove off the road because I knew immediately that this was the title for the book God wanted me to write. As I processed the words and began to savor them in my mind, the idea for this book began to unfold. I was to share the faith stories of some of the “ordinary” women I knew and of how God had brought them from ashes to beauty in their faith journeys with Him.
As I began to wonder which women I should include, some of their names began to drop into my mind. I set about contacting them to ask if they would be willing to participate in this special project. Most of them agreed, although all of them felt their faith stories were nothing special.
I started actually working on this book in July, 2006. However, I soon set it aside, and during the next several months I became busy with other things and let it go. In January, 2007, at our “Oil of Joy for Mourning” retreat, our small group was discussing the question we had been asked to cover: “What is God calling you to do?” When it was my turn, I mentioned the retreats and then spoke about the book. The other women in our group immediately asked what it was about, so I told them. One of the women in the group said she would love to publish it for me, since she and her husband have a printing/publishing business. I couldn’t believe it! God had given me a publisher, and the book wasn’t even written yet!
Also during that retreat, God gave me the names of four more women whom He had chosen to be included in this book, and they all agreed to be a part of it. I knew beyond any doubt that I was not only being given the green light for this project, but also being given a huge nudge to get busy. Since then, He has added several more “portraits” to the book, as well.
In March of 2011 during a time of prayer, I felt a very strong nudge to finish the book before I left on a mission trip to Zambia in June. At that time the book was 95% completed, but I had been dragging my feet because I didn’t feel I could do justice to one of the women included in the book. However, having been given a deadline, I began working on that one portrait, which turned into two, and then felt led to ask one more woman to share her story, as well.
Unfortunately, the woman who had originally offered to print and publish the book had moved to Florida and no longer felt that she could handle the project, although she did volunteer to do the proofreading for me. I found myself wondering and praying about whom I could find to do the project for me that I felt I could trust. But the Lord had that all figured out. I should have known that He would, since the book was His idea.
On Wednesday, May 25 th , I received a new issue of Guideposts magazine, a publication I had subscribed to and enjoyed for many years. While preparing for bed that night, I looked through it and discovered an ad for Inspiring Voices , a new service of Guideposts offering self-publishing help to Christian authors. I couldn’t believe it! “ Inspiring Voices ” – exactly what this book is about. And a service of Guideposts, an organization I had known, valued and trusted for many years, a new service that began in April, 2011, right after the Lord had prompted me to finish this book before leaving for Zambia. God’s timing. How amazing! I was able to complete the book the next day.
**************
As I said, this book was commissioned by God. Each wom