If there was ever a sentence I needed over the past couple of weeks, it's this one. God is making something beautiful out of my life. Yours too.
These words were first introduced to me in January through a book called It's
Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst. I remember looking at the
book before I read it and yes judging it by its cover. It had an upside down
girl in front of an upside down house and the fact that it was about the
heartaches of Lysa’s marriage made me wonder if it would have any relevancy to
my life. Little did I know, it would turn me upside down. Or maybe it was finally right side up.
One of the main themes in the book is dust. Whatever just came into you head, I thought the same thing at first. Dust is messy. Dust stirs up my allergies. And Dust is definitely not my idea of a good topic to linger on. But it turns out dust is sometimes the exact ingredient God needs when He is making a masterpiece.
Lysa's talk about dust led to stories about pottery. And then on page 114 she dropped a revelation that is still setting up camp in my heart. This is what she shared:
"Wise potters not only know how to form beautiful things from clay, but they also know how important it is to add some of the dust from previously broken pieces of pottery to the new clay. This type of dust is called "grog." To get this grog, the broken pieces must be shattered to dust just right. If the dust is shattered too finely, then it won't add any structure to the new clay. And if it is not shattered enough, the grog will be too coarse and make the potter's hands bleed. But when shattered just right, the grog dust added to the new clay will enable the potter to form clay into a larger and stronger vessel than ever before. And it can go through fires much hotter as well. Plus, when glazed, these pieces end up having a much more beautiful, artistic look to them than they would have otherwise (TerKeurst 114-115)."
If you would have asked me about broken pieces, I probably would have told you to toss them out, but God never ceases to stop surprising me. Only He would come up with something that actually used brokenness to make the original piece better. Only God would see how it could all eventually work together for good. Then again I guess it shouldn't surprise me that much. Bad things to good and broken to whole is kind of His signature.
I don't know what pieces you are holding onto right now. I don't know what it is that has caused you pain or made you think you were less than, but I do know that if you give it to God, He will use it. He will take your grog moments and add them to the tapestry of your life and make something stronger and more beautiful than before. He will not let the pieces go to waste because even when we can’t see it, “God sees the exact pieces and parts that must be added right now to protect us, provide for us, and prepare us” (TerKeurst 114).
I know sometimes these words sound good and you know in your head that they are true, but when you are in the middle of your broken pieces, it can be hard to actually believe the truth. It can be hard to see how things could ever get better or change.
I hear you. I’ve been there too. More recently than I’d like to admit. And the only thing I know is that even in my worst moments, when it feels like God is nowhere in it, I can trust Him. It's not about what I am feeling, but rather who He is. I have to step outside of my own strength and vision and that means sometimes trusting when there is no evidence that His presence is there.
Throughout writing all this, I couldn't shake the image of God at the potter's wheel shaping the pieces that represented our lives again and again until He gets it the way He envisions. What a marvelous sensation to imagine God's fingerprints stretching and prodding and creating His masterpiece called humanity. I think about my individual piece sitting somewhere on the shelf of His Art Studio. I know such a thing probably doesn't exist, but imagine with for a minute that it does. Imagine that God tenderly works away day by day in His studio patiently waiting until His creations are how He wants them. If our temporary setbacks and heartaches could be see through the lens of a Creator getting His work just right, perhaps we wouldn't resist the pain, but rather we might embrace it. Perhaps we would see that all the tweaks and smoothing of rough places and chiseling of things that need to go are ultimately leading to something far better than if God left us the way we are right now.
I read another book recently that was actually called The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers. The last sentence was one that I have thought back to over and over again. Francine writes about all that God has done in each of the character’s lives and then pans to a scene where two friends are talking to a guy that is intrigued to know more about the transformation that has happened in their lives. The book ends with this sentence. “Even here and now the Lord was working on another masterpiece” (Rivers 484).
I've struggled with this myself lately, but I have to remind myself that to God we are all unique masterpieces and He is not content to leave us unfinished. If you feel as if you are being reshaped or molded, don’t lose heart. God is working diligently to get His creation to be the best it can be. He wants the most for us and our lives. And He is going to use the broken pieces to make us stronger and full of purpose beyond what we can see right now. He is at work. He has a plan and He is making something beautiful out of our lives.
-Only Hope
These words were first introduced to me in January through a book called It's
Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst. I remember looking at the
book before I read it and yes judging it by its cover. It had an upside down
girl in front of an upside down house and the fact that it was about the
heartaches of Lysa’s marriage made me wonder if it would have any relevancy to
my life. Little did I know, it would turn me upside down. Or maybe it was finally right side up.
One of the main themes in the book is dust. Whatever just came into you head, I thought the same thing at first. Dust is messy. Dust stirs up my allergies. And Dust is definitely not my idea of a good topic to linger on. But it turns out dust is sometimes the exact ingredient God needs when He is making a masterpiece.
Lysa's talk about dust led to stories about pottery. And then on page 114 she dropped a revelation that is still setting up camp in my heart. This is what she shared:
"Wise potters not only know how to form beautiful things from clay, but they also know how important it is to add some of the dust from previously broken pieces of pottery to the new clay. This type of dust is called "grog." To get this grog, the broken pieces must be shattered to dust just right. If the dust is shattered too finely, then it won't add any structure to the new clay. And if it is not shattered enough, the grog will be too coarse and make the potter's hands bleed. But when shattered just right, the grog dust added to the new clay will enable the potter to form clay into a larger and stronger vessel than ever before. And it can go through fires much hotter as well. Plus, when glazed, these pieces end up having a much more beautiful, artistic look to them than they would have otherwise (TerKeurst 114-115)."
If you would have asked me about broken pieces, I probably would have told you to toss them out, but God never ceases to stop surprising me. Only He would come up with something that actually used brokenness to make the original piece better. Only God would see how it could all eventually work together for good. Then again I guess it shouldn't surprise me that much. Bad things to good and broken to whole is kind of His signature.
I don't know what pieces you are holding onto right now. I don't know what it is that has caused you pain or made you think you were less than, but I do know that if you give it to God, He will use it. He will take your grog moments and add them to the tapestry of your life and make something stronger and more beautiful than before. He will not let the pieces go to waste because even when we can’t see it, “God sees the exact pieces and parts that must be added right now to protect us, provide for us, and prepare us” (TerKeurst 114).
I know sometimes these words sound good and you know in your head that they are true, but when you are in the middle of your broken pieces, it can be hard to actually believe the truth. It can be hard to see how things could ever get better or change.
I hear you. I’ve been there too. More recently than I’d like to admit. And the only thing I know is that even in my worst moments, when it feels like God is nowhere in it, I can trust Him. It's not about what I am feeling, but rather who He is. I have to step outside of my own strength and vision and that means sometimes trusting when there is no evidence that His presence is there.
Throughout writing all this, I couldn't shake the image of God at the potter's wheel shaping the pieces that represented our lives again and again until He gets it the way He envisions. What a marvelous sensation to imagine God's fingerprints stretching and prodding and creating His masterpiece called humanity. I think about my individual piece sitting somewhere on the shelf of His Art Studio. I know such a thing probably doesn't exist, but imagine with for a minute that it does. Imagine that God tenderly works away day by day in His studio patiently waiting until His creations are how He wants them. If our temporary setbacks and heartaches could be see through the lens of a Creator getting His work just right, perhaps we wouldn't resist the pain, but rather we might embrace it. Perhaps we would see that all the tweaks and smoothing of rough places and chiseling of things that need to go are ultimately leading to something far better than if God left us the way we are right now.
I read another book recently that was actually called The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers. The last sentence was one that I have thought back to over and over again. Francine writes about all that God has done in each of the character’s lives and then pans to a scene where two friends are talking to a guy that is intrigued to know more about the transformation that has happened in their lives. The book ends with this sentence. “Even here and now the Lord was working on another masterpiece” (Rivers 484).
I've struggled with this myself lately, but I have to remind myself that to God we are all unique masterpieces and He is not content to leave us unfinished. If you feel as if you are being reshaped or molded, don’t lose heart. God is working diligently to get His creation to be the best it can be. He wants the most for us and our lives. And He is going to use the broken pieces to make us stronger and full of purpose beyond what we can see right now. He is at work. He has a plan and He is making something beautiful out of our lives.
-Only Hope
Comments
Post a Comment