If this Christmas season finds you in mourning, I want to encourage you. God wants to give you beauty for ashes—joy in place of mourning—and the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.
He wants to make a trade with you.
There is a time for grieving and mourning the loss of a loved one. And yet, there is also a time to trade your heavy heart for a heart of praise—a time to allow God to give you beauty for ashes and to turn your mourning into joy.
This may seem impossible to you if you are overwhelmed with your feelings of sadness and loss. I am well aware of the tendency for those feelings to become intensified during the holidays.
This is all the more reason to press into God and to find hope and encouragement in His word.
If you have experienced great loss in your life, be assured that God did not forget about you. He sees every tear and hears the cry of your heart.
Remember, you are never alone. He is with you—right where you are at this moment.
During holiday seasons, our loved ones come to our minds and they are forever in our hearts. But our faith gives us a reason to move forward with hope.
We know their suffering is over and they are the happiest they have ever been. They are in the presence of Jesus.
We can trade our mourning for joy as we realize that God gives us beauty for ashes.
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified. Isaiah 63:1 KJV
Stephanie Murphy, LMFT, LLC 
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