Beauty for ashes, healing from divorce -with Jenna Carson

What does it mean to receive beauty for ashes? The phrase comes from Isaiah 61:3, where God promises to bring joy where there was mourning, praise where there was despair, and new life from devastation. In this conversation, we spoke with chaplain and writer Jenna Carson about her journey through two divorces and the hard-won path to healing and renewal. For Jenna, the process wasn’t just about working harder or pushing through pain—it was about surrendering to what she couldn’t control. “I was so held by God,” she shared. “He gives us beauty for ashes.”

Life often demands that we rebuild after devastations we never imagined. When the terms we’ve built our worth upon fall apart, we have to find new reasons to go on. For Jenna, that journey has not only been about finding her own path forward but also about expanding her emotional capacity to hold space for others. Jenna also shares with us how, as a chaplain, her experiences of heartbreak and healing have strengthened her ability to minister to those who feel lost, broken, or unworthy of love. As she puts it, “Divorce is not a failure.”Along the way, you’ll hear about Jenna’s winding path to becoming a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force. Jenna also previously served as a hospital and prison chaplain. She co-hosts the spiritual podcast "Guiding Light." She earned a BA from Brigham Young University, a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, and is a Kripalu-certified Yoga Therapist. Her forthcoming memoir narrates her experience as a female chaplain in a men's penitentiary.

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