Ashley Lande
About the Author

Ashley Lande is an artist, writer, wife, mama, and second generation poultry enthusiast. She believes in vulnerability and telling the whole truth because that is precisely what allows the whole of God's redemption in Jesus Christ to emerge, full-bodied and dimensional, dazzling in kaleidoscopic patterns of love and grace.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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Comments

  1. Beautifully written. Thank you for giving us the courage to hope, even in the long wake of death.

  2. Thank you for helping me to focus on God as my hope to change my ex husband’s heart! That God would show him truth & end the relationship he has started back up with the woman who he left me for. That God would instill into my husband’s heart restoration for us and our family!

    • Oh Dawn, my heart hurts for you but I am also so grateful that your hope is in the Lord. I am personally very well-acquainted with the acute, wrenching pain of infidelity BUT I am also gloriously well-acquainted with the beauty God can bring from the ashes of a broken marriage and broken and contrite hearts. He is the God of resurrection, and can absolutely resurrect what the world says is totally dead and the places that the world says are utterly bereft and where it would be ludicrous to hope. I prayed for you this morning, pleaded for you actually, and your husband, and I am hoping for you – radically, boldly, hoping against hope! I thank God for your faith and expectancy in Him. He has done great things and will again! Also I want to say to you that you are so beautiful, beloved and desired in Christ. Your identity in Christ is not affected in any way by your husband’s choices! You are so very loved!!! I will continue to pray for your miracle!!!

      • Thank you so much Ashley. This has been a very long tough trial. Please pray for my children too! My daughter who is 15 is heart broken & not getting along with her dad. My son who is 12 doesn’t mind what his dad is doing. The pain is overwhelming!

        • Dawn, absolutely. I will be praying for you all. I am so sorry, but I know that God will bring good even out of this immense heartache!

    • Dawn,

      Sweet sister-praying for you. Keep on praying & hoping in the Lord. He is still in the miracle business. He alone can change your husband’s heart. Remember this: God loves you more than you know. Your identity is not in this world but in Christ. You are a beloved child of God! Contemplate this: Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.” “Plans to prosper you & not to harm you to give you a hope & a future.” He has great plans for you life.

      (((((Hugs)))))

  3. Ashley,

    God has given you a beautiful gift with words. Not just with what words you choose, but with His inspired purpose behind them. Sometimes hope seems fleeting – like a butterfly you just can’t catch as it escapes and flutters away. But our God is showing us that there is beauty in hope, and that our joy and hope can only truly come from Him.

    “Jesus is the One in whom hope has its roots, but He is also the radiant sun toward whom it joyfully grows.”

    Poignant and poetic. Thank you for bringing to light some well-needed hope for a tough time in life for me. I pray that your words inspire others to reach for hope as well. Blessings sweet sister!

    kim

    • Kim, thank you so much, sister, for your beautiful comment! He is so faithful to meet us in places of pain, anger, disillusionment and darkness and I have faith he will continue to meet you in this season! I’ve learned we need only abide. I am so glad my words served you! He is indeed always writing a story of hope, even when we can’t see it!

  4. Ashley,
    Thank you so much for this beautiful reminder. Hope and faith work hand in hand…Thanks to our Lord that he shows us through His word how His light shines even if all one can muster is the tiniest bit of hope and faith, no matter how big or small, He will shine brightly for us and lead the way! He is the light! Also,I loved hearing about your sweet chickens. I’m also a lover of a few sweet hens!!!

    • Donna, a thousand times yes! Hope and faith go hand in hand – I love that. And yay for chickens! Be warned though – we started with “a few” and now have around 30! Once you start it’s hard to stop!

  5. I love this. I love that you NOTICED the little example of faith God put before you. And I love that we cannot stop hoping because “hopelessness calcifies the soul.” Thank you for sharing these words.

  6. Ashley,

    How like God to point to an animal to make His point. Animals have faith & hope. They trust that we humans will feed, water & care for them. Also some build nests, lay eggs & hope little ones come out. Why then do we lose hope so easily? This world doesn’t make it easy to stay hopeful. So much sin, darkness, & hatred. It’s hard to look around & have much hope for this world. But we must! We mustn’t give up. God will bring about His plans for our lives if we trust & obey Him. Have faith, pray & Keep on hoping for the best from God.

    Blessings 🙂

    • Beth, thank you so much! Your comment blesses me. I need these reminders every day and he is so faithful to give them – through his word, through animals, through my brothers and sisters in Christ!

  7. I *love* your writing and actually looked to see if you’d written a book. Yet. :>)

    Thank you for the truth and beauty that pointed my soul to Him!

    • Annie, thank you so so much! I am so grateful that the story God gave me spoke to you. I actually do have a book… well, a manuscript. Buuuut I’m told I don’t have a sufficient platform yet. I’m working on it though! I’m so flattered you checked 😉

  8. Ashley,

    Thank you for sharing your heart through the written word. You are truly gifted. God has definitely used you in my life to encourage me to seek after Him. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend and sister in Christ. I pray that God would continue to reach people for His glory through your writing.

    • Oh, I love you, friend! Thank you so very much. And thank you for that prayer. That is always mine as well… that my words will display some small refracted angle of His beauty and truth!

  9. Oh. This “my sister died from an addiction we didn’t even know she had” is what happened to me at the beginning of this year, too. And now I’m fighting cancer. Thank you for a message of hope!

    • Phyllis, I’m so sorry. I am praying for you this morning, for healing and even more for His surpassing peace to envelop you. As the apostle Paul says, everything that happens to us will turn out for our deliverance. I cling to that. God will continue to be very good to you! I believe that.