Stacy Lynn Montgomery

Ashes to Beauty Stacy Lynn Montgomery

Yani Michaels, an ordinary and plain woman, was a young single mother. Her mother and father died when she was thirteen years old. Raised by an aunt, she missed out on a connection to her parents. She struggled with trying to raise Tanya, her teen daughter, on her on own without the help of Tanya's father, Antonio. Antonio left Yani when Tanya was very small. Yani did what other single mothers would do in a situation like this - she struggled to survive. She went to a job she loathed every day, driving a car that seemed to be on life support and lived in a house that seemed to be left behind from the 1800s. She knew God, and she did pray, but it appeared to her that those prayers were never heard. In her life, God was set aside. From paying bills to buying groceries, keeping gas in her car to trying to keep her teen content, she struggled. Until one day, a man walked in her life and freed her from that struggle. He was her breath of fresh air and way out of that wearisome life. This man was her new beginning. At least, this is what Yani thought. This man, Arvin, brought much happiness into her life, but he also brought much misery. Yet, Yani learned that she had to go through what she went through. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have come to have a strong relationship with the Lord. Her life is a testimony that God can, indeed, turn ashes into beauty.