Words to live by...

There are so many things that have inspired me, spoke to me and have shaped me. Jeremiah 18:4 has been the verse though that has truly revealed God's love for me. It is the reason for my blog title, and when I feel critical of myself for who I'm not, I'm reminded by this verse that God has a specific intention for me.

Most people who know me, know that my passion has always been foreign missions. Since I was sixteen, all I wanted to do was to run an orphanage overseas for abused and abandoned children. Life choices have not taken me down that path, and I often blame the struggles that I go through on the fact that I felt out of God's will. Until I read this, I believed that I would have to stand before God with a lame excuse as to why I never went on the mission field full time. I believed He was sorely disappointed in me and never wanted to use me again- because if I failed in this calling he asked of me, why wouldn't I fail in anything else he asked me to do? I felt that all my good intentions and my passion for the field didn't matter because I didn't obey. I believed that sin I had committed would prevent me from ever being used by Him again and that because I sinned knowing better, that my relationship with Him would always be fragmented and weak.  And then the most amazing thing happened. I read this passage (vs 3) "So I went down to the potter's house and saw him working at the wheel. (4) But the pot he was shaping was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him".

It completely broke me.

I don't know how long I cried for, but when I was finally able to pull myself together, I felt like such a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. A heaviness that had oppressed me for years was gone. To know that the clay was marred- even in His hands- spoke to me that circumstances happen to us, even while we are in God's hands. That God saw the flaws and used us anyway. That He used the flaws to accomplish His purpose. He could have destroyed the clay and tossed it aside- but He didn't. He patiently, and gently worked with it- He took great pains to shape the pot into what He wanted it to be. What I think is amazing is that the pot will always have that hidden flaw. A tender spot. To an outside observer, the flaw may never be seen, but the Potter will always know where the clay came from and to where He wants it to go...