December 5th, 2017

Jerimiah 18: 4

“And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”  ESV

 “But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.” NLT

The reason I put both versions of this verse is because I find that they both have importance in the way of what is being said. First the verse is talking about the potter and his relationship with the clay, of course this always reminds me of the ministry I am currently apart of, Potter’s Field Ministries, and Pastor Mike’s presentation with the clay and the pot. During the presentation he pulls on the clay shaping it and perfecting it. At some points he pulls the pot so thin that you think it is going to collapse on itself, that it won’t be able to be shaped anymore. But that is when Pastor Mike crushes it, he then molds it into something else saying, “I was never making a pot”. 

This is what God does to us, He shapes us and molds us into one thing, but then He strips us of pieces that are not Him, that are evil and sinful. And when we think He just about done with us and is done with stretching us, He completely switches the design on us. He pulls and tugs us in a different direction next discarding some pieces but never fully throwing them away because He knows that testimonies are powerful and encouraging so He keeps our past in His hands, but it is no longer attached to us and no longer apart of us.

For many this is a season of rebuilding and shaping in our lives. I find that now more than ever I am truly starting to become the person God wants me to be. No longer being influenced by opinion I’ve grown up with and believing things just because my family did. But it has been a true and pure time of discovery and searching for who God really is and what the characteristics of Jesus are.

I can honestly say that I was not turning into the jar that He would have hoped for, so God used Ignite to crush me into a lump and start to remake me. He has taken me out of my home, out of my identity as a pastor’s kid and I can no longer hide behind my job or school. He wanted me to start fresh and then began with stripping all I was to become just me and Him. But even though sometimes it is painful it is also beautiful and worth it.