My younger son met a family of singers and musicians called Desert Sky, who traveled and shared in venues across America. They were heading south to Florida, and he suggested that we have them come to the church that we were pastoring at the time. It was the best recommendation that we ever received.
This family really loved the Lord, and they showed it in their attitude and the words of the songs that they wrote. The chorus of my favorite song of theirs had these wondrous lyrics:
I want to live on the Potter’s wheel
To be molded and shaped by His grace.
I want to feel His hands on my soul
And to be a reflection of His holy face.
WOW… they so expressed the desire of my heart in these few simple lines. Abiding continually in the rest that we find in the Potter’s Wheel and House and Hands, molded and shaped by His grace, and feeling His hands on our soul as He forms us into a vessel for His honor, until we are a reflection of His holy face.
In sunshine and rain, we can trust in the Lord our God to work out everything for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). This truth allows us to focus on the miracle that will come out of every trial we ever experience when we completely trust in Him.
Over the last several decades, I found myself growing in the grace of God and feeling His hands fashioning my soul through trials, which gave me increasingly greater intimacy with His Trinity within me. Through sunshine and rain, I can rejoice.
Over the last four years, I have had four pinched nerves, three broken bones, four traumatized bursae, joints worn out by repetitive motion, etc. I’ve gone from a cane to a wheelchair, to a knee scooter, and back to a wheelchair. More than once, I also alternately wore a sling on one or another of my arms to restrict its movement until my shoulder healed.
Yet, our Great Physician personally mended each malady for me. First, He showed me what I could be suffering, and then he removed the pain on the day after each trauma occurred, even though complete healing took weeks or months to complete.
God’s intimate presence sustained me through each inconvenience, and He gave my darling husband the strength after his day of work, to help with household chores and with carrying heavy kitchen equipment and wet laundry for me.
These prolonged gaps in my effectiveness in conducting many household chores gave my mate more of an understanding of what I actually do with my time, effort and energy every day.
He already loved me deeply, but the intensity of his love increased due to his eyes being opened as he helped me through these constant mishaps. He developed more of an appreciation for all that I do to keep his home and meals flowing effortlessly for him.
I learned that joy and patience come to those who trust God rather than attempting to run from our problems. I am more ready to face anything now, and I have developed a fuller and more complete strength of character in many areas due to experiencing these physical traumas (James 1:2-4).
Prayer:
Father God, the life we encounter on this blue sphere that we call home is often overwhelming and downright wearying. Events often careen out of our control, and we find our self temporarily crippled as an outcome. Through the incidents that You allowed in my life, I have learned to rely on Your grace to see me through, and on Your presence within me to draw from Your strength, peace, and joy despite them (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Through several decades as a Born Again Believer and of experiencing continual difficulties, You revealed to me Your hidden treasure within each one of them. I put one foot in front of the other as You lead me, and I trust in Your goodness and grace (Matthew 13:44; Hebrews 11:6). We thank You for providing us with riches through every trial that comes our way (2 Corinthians 4:7-10) - from the silver lining in every cloud to the pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.
Thought for the Day:
Our God of hope and grace fills us with abounding joy and enduring peace though every trial that we ever experience, and He abundantly rewards those who diligently seek Him; His Word and Spirit reveal in us the treasure in our earthen vessel as we place complete trust in Him.
- Romans 5:13; Hebrews 11:6; 2 Corinthians 4:7-10
