"This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."
Jeremiah 18:1-4
God has been doing something new in my life lately. Some of it has been difficult. I have felt like I've been on the potter's wheel. Even more accurately, I have felt like I'm in the fire. Through it all, I feel like God is birthing something new and significant in my life. He has also been speaking to me about my calling. Through this process some things have come to the surface of my heart that are not easy to deal with. Yet God is purifying me for a greater purpose.
One thing that has been a big issue in my life is fear. I know this verse is true: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (II Timothy 1:7, NKJV) Still, fear seems to plague my life in so many ways.
About four years ago I received a prophetic word which said, in part, that a baptism of love was coming to me to set me free from the fear that keeps from from moving forward in God's call on my life. Of course, in my natural mind, I imagine a dramatic, instantaneous deliverance where God delivers me from fear. What seems more likely is that it is a process. I have experienced instant deliverance in the past and I thank God for those experiences. But often God uses a process of deliverance to perfect faith and refine character in our lives.
At times the process is frustrating. Sometimes I get angry. Sometimes I vent to the Lord. Recently, I was venting to God about something and I was pretty upset. I was fervently making my complaint to Him in my apartment when I felt the hand of God upon me. It was as if God Himself was standing before me, calming me down. As He calmed me and comforted me it was hard to continue to be upset. How do you stay upset when someone is soothing you with their presence? The Lord said to me, "I know, I know... and it's going to be okay." It was as if He was saying to me, "I know it's been hard. I know it hasn't been easy. But it's going to be okay." I felt so much better after He said that.
On the surface of my life, nothing has really changed. But, God is at work. I don't know how it's all going to turn out. I don't know exactly what He is going to do. Sometimes it doesn't seem like things will be okay. But I have to trust that if He says things will be okay, then things will be okay. And, in my spirit, I know He is using all of this to do something new and significant that will ultimately bring Him glory through my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment