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Written by Barb Dunn, Beauty for Ashes Short-Term trip: Costa Rica, June 2018   A team of 12 ladies flew to San Jose, Costa Rica in June to hold several Beauty for Ashes retreats. We stayed at the Casa Transforma House, which is an awesome ministry that not only prepares women with work skills, but is a safe place for women to share “their stories” of heartache and pain.     It was an honor and a joy to be used by God to listen and pray over several beautiful women. We heard many painful stories, but God was faithful to heal hurting hearts with His love. He gave beauty for their ashes of pain. One of the ladies asked why God wanted her to talk about the hurts in her heart. God wanted her to know His scripture in Luke 8:17 that says, “For nothing is hidden that will…

Written by Ashley Mendoza, Beauty for Ashes Short-Term trip: Costa Rica, June 2018 It has been a long while since I have done anything to live out my deepest God-given dreams. I signed up for a Beauty for Ashes trip over a year ago because my heart is for women, and seeing them live out their redeemed lives in Christ. I landed in Costa Rica a few weeks ago to meet up with women that I did not know and to serve at a ministry that was just as unknown. I fully expected to serve women, see tears, and hear stories of freedom. What I did not expect was a God who intentionally set me on a path to healing during the rainy season in Costa Rica. God is good and faithful, but disappointment is REAL LIFE. When you do not deal with disappointment it eats at you and takes from you the very things t…

The following blog was written by Charlene Jean-Pierre after our Gainesville Short-Term Trip, May 2nd-6th. You can read her personal blog HERE. We would love to see you on one of our trips this year! Find out more at adventures.org/beautyforashes     “‘I will gather you…and bring you home again.’ (Zephaniah 3:20 NLT) ‘I will restore your fortunes.’ (Jeremiah 29:14, Zephaniah 3:20, NLT) These were some of the phrases that the Holy Spirit gently whispered to me the morning after I arrived in Gainesville, GA over a week ago for a local missions trip with Beauty for Ashes. Imagine my surprise and delight when we pulled up to a magnificent lake house where we would spend the next few days being ministered to and ministering to other women, wh…

The following is a blog written by Liz Bacon, a current Squad Leader on the World Race Expedition Route that launched in January. This story comes from her time on the field as a World Racer in October 2017. You can follow her journey at elizabethbacon.theworldrace.org For more information about Beauty for Ashes visit adventures.org/beautyforashes   The Lord sent me on a divine scavenger hunt, and I adore the treasure I found— a barista with tattoos and fortitude. Fortitude (n): strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage. My hunt started during the third week on the World Race. I was in a coffee shop in Uganda, Africa when I randomly met a couple, The Pearsons, on fire for Jesus. Our short conversation led to th…

This post was written by World Racer, Paige Lindner.  What’s written below is for you who has experienced a deep sense of loss. For you who has lost a loved one and are still mourning to this day.  For you who has been broken-hearted by a significant other who made a lot of empty promises to you.  For you who had a parent that walked away or loved you inadequately leaving you confused, hurt, and alone. For you who has just been burned by the ways of this world, head gaping wide you have no where else to turn. It is not fair that some of us get to feel love, that heart-wrenching, chest breaking, tear provoking, thoughts racing, feeling while others miss the experience entirely. I have struggled to understa…

This post was written by World Racer, Paige Lindner.  As humans each of us keeps packing things into the soul and never take time to unpack them. If we don’t process, grieve, and heal successfully then more sin will come in the future and embed itself in the walls of our hearts. The Lord calls us to tangibly choose Him amidst the process of healing. It is not the Lord snapping His fingers and saying “you’re made better, child”- it’s a daily process to be changed into a better version of yourself in order to not revert back to the same things we once ran to that ended up scarring us. The scars will most likely exist but we will be thankful for them because they have defined the person, the YOU, that stands before the Father today. Ways to properly heal are subjective, but on …

This post was written by Kristie Reville, a long-term missionary doing Beauty for Ashes ministry in Cambodia. I have been in Cambodia for a little over a month now. Every day is a new day. A day to chose joy. A day to chose mourning. A day to chose frustration. Every day is a new day. What are you choosing in your new days? I firmly believe the Lord has purposes and intentions every day. Every time we wake up there are new revelations to be had.  Being overseas is literally the best thing. And the hardest thing. Its a roller coaster of emotions, disappointment, and of course, the what ifs. The Lord has said Come to Me since my first week of being here. He showed it to me with the birds, and now He is showing me it from a dear sister and His sweet voice. Let me pre…

This blog was written by Rachel Witt a member of World Race X Squad doing Beauty for Ashes in Zimbabwe.  Last month, my team and I hosted two Beauty for Ashes retreats in Zimbabwe. Both retreats were a huge success! The first retreat we hosted was in Gokwe, a very rural town in northern Zimbabwe. The retreat was two full days where women from far away villages could spend the night. The second retreat we hosted was in Kadoma and it was 3 half days. I loved the opportunity to get to know all the women that came. We met many different women from different places and backgrounds. It was really cool to see their passion and love for God. At both retreats we read God’s word, had discussions, played games, and ate together. We were able to talk to the women about forgiveness, prayer, w…

Have you ever felt like something was wrong with you?  You look at others and just count the ways you don’t measure up to some invisible standard.   In this culture of comparison we are always being told that we are not enough.  We have been duped.  We have have been trained by this world that there is something not right about who we are.  We are sold this lie that the grass will be greener if we buy this product, look this way or live this lifestyle.  We have been conditioned to constantly compare ourselves this perfect woman that all the girls want to be and all the boys want to date.  And we always come up short.       If I was just skinnier… If I had these clothes to wear… If only I acted more like this… I am too mu…

Chelsea Ray from the April Expedition route of the World Race shares her story of the lies she has believed about being not enough.  I’m not enough. There, I said it, the words that hide inside so many of my thoughts and actions. So much of my time is spent sitting and trying to think of ways that I can be better, more acceptable, more enough. Of course I don’t think those words exactly. Deceit would never be that forthcoming. Instead I am reminded of all my many shortcomings, moments I have fallen and failed, and the people who have told me by the way they’ve treated me that this is true.  The funny thing is, when you suddenly come face to face with a lie that you have held your whole life, the whole thing begins to unravel. All of a sudden, there are many momen…