Crowned for Ashes was born from a desire to connect people walking through similar struggles in a life altered by loss.
The idea was formed out of a season of chaos & isolation after my husband Chris returned from a deployment with a heart infection that caused a series of strokes.
He spent weeks in a coma, underwent heart & brain surgery and spent the next several years of his life learning to walk & talk again and to live with a paralyzed dominant arm. Those were dark times and he was ultimately medically retired from the Air Force, but was determined to make the best of life.
Becoming involved in adaptive sports and meeting other couples on similar journeys was a huge turning point. Navigating a “new normal” is a scary and lonely road and we realized how much we needed community.
Chris always wanted to help others, so the idea was born to start a non-profit to bring wounded, ill & injured veterans down to Florida’s beautiful Emerald Coast for marriage-centered rest & recreation retreats – to give them the coveted connection time we hadn’t realized we needed desperately.
Though Chris passed away in March of 2018, his legacy lives on through the lives he impacted while here on earth and the lives that are impacted by the ministry he helped to conceptualize.
Ultimately, the Crowned for Ashes mission is opportunities for lasting connection among those walking a similar path of life adapted by loss. There is something incredibly powerful about walking alongside others who GET IT.
We held our very first retreat in March of 2020 and have been able to host more than 18 retreats for young widows since then. Looking back, we can see God’s fingerprints everywhere from the vision He gave me in the night of what this ministry would do to the location of our very first retreat.
This photo is special not only because it’s from that very first retreat, but because just across the water on the opposite shore, you can SEE the land in this photo where our retreat house will one day stand. There, in between the palm trees, if you look straight up from where the ladies are walking, on the opposite shore you’ll see two white houses. Just to the right of those is the CFA land.
It still blows me away the legacy that each and every retreat is leaving for future retreats.
Land that has been set aside from the foundation of the earth for this very purpose. Never built on. Just waiting for the Lord’s timing.
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.”
-Psalm 127a
We have seen the Lord’s fingerprints all along and what a cool journey it’s been so far.
We have confidence that where there is pain, He promises to trade us for something better.
The oil of joy instead of mourning.
A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
A CROWN OF BEAUTY in place of ashes.
This transfer couldn’t happen without walking through and leaning on Him along the way. He is the God who promises never to leave us. He is growing us into OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS to display the splendor of His own character.
– Ashley Cochrane Olson, founder: Crowned for Ashes
beautiful lettering by Kelli Cross of @fourarrowsfarms
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