Life is variable, messy, and complicated. A single instant can propel us from joyful heights to seemingly endless tunnels of darkness, while between the milestones, time often drags at the pace of a snail on depressants, weighing us down in our inevitable march toward earthly life’s end. But in every moment, setting, and circumstance, God is present. Seen or unseen, His hand works, His eyes watch, and His heart beats a faithful cadence of commitment to those made to bear His image. While doctrinal answers truthfully respond to our mind’s questions, they sometimes miss making the ten-inch journey to the heart where our deeper wondering and need lives. The reflections in Beauty from Ashes were born outside of church walls, where feet meet pavement—where heart, mind, and body seek beauty, truth, and fulfillment in the daily reality of the world surrounding our Monday through Saturday lives. These musings on the incomprehensible God—ponderings on loss, joy, dissatisfaction, growth, need, failure, and strength—are variable and messy, as is life. But in every page, as in every moment, God is there, and that reality is the truth in which fulfilled, abundant life takes root. May the words of this book be herbs to flavor your experience of marinating in God’s love.