You have to go through...

​           The story of the potter and the clay has really caught my attention and so I feel the need to not just do one post on this topic but to spend the next few weeks examining this interesting process of turning clay into something useful and beautiful. 
         Last week I looked at the fact that the clay chosen by the potter is not clean. Actually, the process of choosing the clay is a messy one. But, we can be encouraged that we too are not chosen by God because of how good or clean or perfect we are. We are chosen by Him because of the purpose He has pre-ordained for our lives. After all, the Bible says that we are chosen before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)
         When the potter in our story finally finds a piece of clay he wants, he kneads and molds the clay, looking for and removing any twigs, stones or impurities. Sometimes, he uses rods and beats the clay until it is smooth, and all impurities removed. This does not sound like a very pleasant process. It actually sounds painful and unpleasant. And that’s how we feel when we’re going through challenges and testings. The pain feels so unbearable and we just want it to be over, we want the whole painful ordeal to come to an end. But, guess what? If our trial ends before time, our cleansing process would be incomplete, and we would not become what God wants us to be. 
         At various times in my own life I have gone through trials and testings that I wished would end as speedily as possible because the pain seemed more than I could bear. Of course, whether I liked it or not I had to go through to learn what God wanted me to learn. I remember once feeling that I had gone through hell and a flood. The trial seemed so dire that I felt I had gone through not just one but both! But then, I found myself reaching to the point where I was able to honestly and sincerely thank God for the hell and the flood because I realized that the hell fire had burned up some really negative stuff in me and the flood had served to wash away the whole mess. The devil had meant my ordeal for evil – he sent it my way to destroy me, to humiliate me, in short to kill, steal and destroy my life (John 10:10). But what the enemy meant for evil God turned around for my good and for the good of others (Genesis 50:20). How great it is that God can take what the devil means to destroy us and use it to save us. 
         My encouragement to you is that you would trust God for His grace to go through your cleansing process. No, it’s not easy. Sometimes it’s so painful you can’t even see a light at the end of the tunnel. You want it to end, you may even want to give up but … DON’T! You have to complete your process, you have to survive your trial … and you will because God has a plan and it’s not to harm or destroy you. That’s the devil’s plan. You have to endure the kneading and molding and the beating with rods as God removes the impurities in your life. If you want to be a beautiful and useful vessel, you have to go through in order to get to where He’s taking you.