As the season of Lent begins, Christians around the world are marked with ashes — a simple sign of mortality, repentance, and hope.

This year, we asked people on our Rio Texas Conference Facebook page to share how they experienced Ash Wednesday. The stories gathered here are drawn from those responses.

“Our Ashes to Go actually stopped by my house for imposition.” — Pam Elliott

For some, Ash Wednesday came not in a sanctuary pew, but at the front door. Ashes to Go ministries across the conference met people where they were — in homes, on sidewalks, in everyday spaces. A simple cross of ash became a reminder: you are seen, you are remembered, you are loved.

“We wrote down regrets or laments, and burned the papers upon which they were written. We mixed those ashes with gesso to prepare something new — a blank canvas upon which our story, and Christ’s, may be drawn.” — Leah Krenek

In one congregation, ashes were not only placed on foreheads — they were transformed. Regrets and laments were burned, then folded into the very foundation of something new.

Lent, after all, is not just about what dies. It is about what God creates from it.

In sanctuaries across the conference, pastors knelt to trace crosses on young foreheads. Children stood still, curious and solemn. Elders bowed their heads.

The same words echoed in every place:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

From the youngest to the oldest, we were marked together.