Just Clay

We hit our one year anniversary of "The Flood." We are definitely going to review our life in terms of before the flood and after the flood. At the anniversary, we have our breakfast room finished, the office finished, and four more rooms plus hall ready to be floored. We still have the guest room, the den, and bathrooms to do. Despite the work before us, I am praising God we are in the after flood stage, even if I couldn't have known the after stage would be so life changing and so ongoing.

Yesterday, my pastor preached an amazing message. He is a phenomenal preacher/teacher any way-really a master teacher. There is no doubt he has the gift of teaching. He preached on the potter and the clay, but prefaced the sermon with a text from Jeremiah where God tells Jeremiah to go to the potter's house. Our pastor took us to the potter's house via a video. The video played behind him during the entire sermon. We witnessed the potter forming the clay, cutting away unnecessary parts, shaping, and reshaping to create what we couldn't see in the beginning. His point-isn't that what God is doing in our lives? He is forming us, cutting away to open up the insides, making bowls, vases, etc...vessels...for HIS use. He has a plan for us, HIS plan, and He works out HIS plan in our life. That plan means HE has to get rid of what is unnecessary.

I look at my life in light of that and wonder what HE is doing. I know that this year has been a cutting away, clearing out, and there is no doubt my Potter is molding this hunk of clay.