The Potter and the Clay

Last night, I had the awesome privilege to be able to speak to the women at my church for the ladies fellowship meeting. I thought it was a wonderful night!
First, we ate. It was soup, salad, and dessert night. Everything was delicious. Then there were a few announcements. Then I got up. I started off by telling my little story of wanting to be a part of a ladies ministry so badly that at the church we were praying about joining before, but felt I had no place in that church as far as the women's ministry. Brian at that point told me that maybe I was too young to do WM yet. And I told him that if that was true I at least wanted to be surrounded with a group of Godly women that I could learn from, grow from and watch to see how a WM is done. And, almost immediately, I found that here at First Baptist Church. Second, I got even more than what I bargained for because my Pastor's wife Gayla has been so eager to give me opportunities to serve in the WM here and for that I am so thankful! So I was telling them how much I appreciated her using me and said I know that everyone of the women appreciated her. The reason I knew this was because a letter went out on her behalf to raise some money for her to go on her mission trip. She was shocked! But she was even more shocked when I told her how much. She was crying! Altogether we were able to give her almost $800.00. Praise the Lord! She was so thankful. It was so sweet! It made me really, really happy to see her get blessed and feel blessed. It was great! Boy it was hard not to cry.

Then I began my lesson. I used play-do and walked them through the process of making pottery and applied each step to God being our Potter. Here is my lesson outline and I added a few things under each point of what I said about it in case you weren't there. If you were, I won't be offended if you skip this blog entry:)
Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter and we all the work of thy hand”

I. The Steps
A. Kneading/Wedging
This step is designed to get all the air bubbles out. This step may be tough for us to take because God is urging and convicting us to get the sin out of our life.

B. Choosing a method
1. The Potter chooses
2. The Potter Knows best

C. Throwing
Throwing the pottery onto the wheel
This was a quote from a pottery website: "For wheel throwing, once the clay is wedged it is centered on the wheel. This is a very critical step as it is the foundation of the pot. The pot is only as true and as strong as the centering."
Same is true for us, we have to be right in the center of God's will or everything will get a lopsided, out of balance and out of sorts.

D. Opening Out
This is the step that you put your finger down in the clay and make a hole in order to start shaping your clay. If you go down to far it can ruin the foundation of the pottery.
1. Building a foundation (Mathew 7)
2. Working from the inside-out
God the potter works on our hearts and changes us from within.

E. Shaping (1 Corinthians 12)
1. The Potter makes us all different
2. The Potter gives us each a purpose
On the table I had the bowls Brian and I made, a tea cup, and a tea pot. Then I explained that I might use a bowl to eat cereal out of, a cup to drink hot tea, and a pot to pour it. Each have different functions. Just like us, we are all different, and have a different purpose.

F. Cleaning/Drying
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” Psalm 51:10
To clean, the excess water is removed from the bowl with a sponge which also smooths the surface and contributes to the strength of the finished bowl when it is in your kitchen environment. Once the pot is trimmed it is again set on the shelf to dry. This will take several days for a bowl this size as the drying rate must be carefully controlled to prevent cracking. This is the time to be still and know God.

G. Glazing
The part that makes the pottery pretty. God has tools to make us "pretty" or to add color into our lives.
1. Other believers/accountability (Proverbs 27:17)
2. Trials and blessings

H. Kiln Firing
1 Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it might be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
This verse says it all on the point. He puts us through the fire to praise and honor Him!

II. What happens to Broken Clay (Jeremiah 18:1-5)
In this passage a potter is at the wheel, he sees something marred on his clay, and he starts over.
1. God can recreate what is in His Hands
The clay was in his hands, not on the floor.
While clay is in His hands it remains shapeable.
When we don’t fit God’s original plan for our life then he reshapes us.
2. God can use what has been broken (Isaiah 45:9)
What happens if we are broken after going through the kiln? Say I drop the tea pot and it broke into a dozen pieces? Wouldn't most think it was useless then? Most of us would gather the broken pieces and throw it away.
There may be something in our lives that have left us broken: miscarriage, divorce, death of loved one, financial crises, abuse. We may look and say that we are useless bc of that hard ship or failure but God can still fix you. For example, one lady I saw online used her broken pieces of pottery and glued them to a picture frame. When we have been broken, we may loose our identity like the teacup that broke, but we are not unfixable!

III. A new Creation
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.
We look at the Samaritan woman and think she was probably a woman not fit to be a vessel of God But the reason we would think she wasn’t a good candidate is because we are not able to see people’s hearts. But the reason she is remembered 2000 years later is because she became a new Creation and God gave her a ministry of reconciliation. (John 4:17-18) God can transform any of us into a vessel that He can use.
_____________________________________________________________

For the most part, I forgot to look at my notes. I followed my general outline of course, but that was about it. Then in the end I thought I did the lesson a lot quicker then I thought it would go, or maybe time just went be fast, I don't know. So I was a little concerned that maybe I forgot to say some of the good stuff I had put in my notes. But my M-I-L, Vicki said she thought that since I didn't just read my notes that I appeared more natural. I have to say, I was much more comfortable speaking this time and I never got nervous. Not once! My prayer was that the Holy Spirit would speak through me and that I would just be his voice for the night.

I ended with leading the women in this song because I thought it fit well.
Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You
You are the potter
I am the clay
Mold me and make me
This is what I pray
Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You

After that we had a short time of testimony, and a few women said how they were touched through the lesson. What I thought was neat was one point touched one person and a completely different point touched another. Everyone there was really encouraging to me saying that it was good and creative. I am so thankful! God is the one that gives me the ability, desire and passion to teach.I am thankful that God has showed me my calling and given me the ability to do it....to HONOR Him!
This is me up late Sunday night getting all the cards ready. I am doing a project, card exchange, among the women. How it works is everyone brings 12 cards in, addressed to themselves, then I mixed them up, each woman gets back a set of 12 cards, one for each month of the year, and a different woman each month to pray for and encourage by sending them a note. I know it doesn't seem like much but honestly I put in many hours doing this. I am soooo excited about though because each woman will be anointed in prayer all through the year, and I think it will draw us even closer to each other. So last night I had the cards ready for people to take home.

I was thankful that Vicki got to come hear me speak. She was so cute and asked if she could have all my notes so she could give the exact same lesson for her ladies at church when the do a ladies tea. But then she said, "Better yet why don't you just come teach it to our ladies?" So, praise the Lord, I might get another chance to speak!

As my dear friend Sally said, my dreams are coming true!