“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 ‬NIV‭)

  I think back to the day when Jesus saved me.‭  ‬I remember the agony I felt as I cried out to Him from the shattered pieces of my life.‭  ‬I was just a broken clay vessel when the Lord,‭ ‬the Master Potter,‭ ‬first found me.‭  ‬In biblical times,‭ ‬all the shattered vessels were thrown onto a garbage dump outside the village know as the‭ “‬potter’s field‭”‬.‭ ‬ This field represents the world.‭  ‬It’s the place where broken lives are thrown after they’ve become worn out and abused,‭ ‬discarded and rejected by the world.  I had been thrown into that dump! Discarded as trash, used and worthless.

  Even though I was a useless clay vessel and my hopes and dreams had been destroyed,‭ ‬He came for me and carried me into the Potter’s house.‭  He saw I was broken and bruised but He deemed me repairable. ‬ What wonder and awe filled my being when I first realized that He really loved me‭!  ‬Oh how I longed to stay in His arms and bask in His presence‭! ‬ Just a glance from His eyes captured my heart.

  With great compassion He tenderly said,‭ “‬I know you.‭ ‬ Your substance is not hidden from Me,‭ ‬for you were fearfully and wonderfully made.‭  ‬When you were in your mother’s womb,‭ ‬you were My chosen instrument and I have a destiny and calling for you.‭” (‬Psalm‭ ‬139:14-16‭) ‬ Then,‭ ‬with His own scarred hands,‭ ‬He reached into the depths of my heart saying,‭ “‬But first,‭ ‬I will remove all the rocks,‭ ‬thistle,‭ ‬thorns and foreign matter,‭ ‬all the debris you’ve picked up on the highway of life you’ve walked and in the process I will fill the empty places with a love like you’ve never known.  I will place in your heart a deep love for Me and for all those I love.‭” ‬  Though broken and shattered, this vessel still had merit for the Master.

  Then He brought His stone of Unrelenting Love carefully down upon me,‭ ‬cracking open my vessel to a place where all I could do was lay in a heap of dust before Him.‭  Shattered and broken!  ‬I was confused because I thought there would be no more pain after I entered His house‭!  ‬Surely,‭ ‬if He loved me as much as He said He did,‭ ‬He wouldn’t allow any more pain to come my way‭! ‬After all,‭ ‬I’d been through so much already‭!

  Next,‭ ‬He carefully places my clay dust in a large bowl and pours the clear,‭ ‬living water that proceeds from the throne of God over me.‭  ‬Worship and the Word filled my being and brought soothing refreshment to my thirsty soul.‭ ‬After awhile I realized this crushing is not for my destruction as it had been in the past.‭  ‬The journey from salvation to transformation had begun‭!

  The Lord then scoops up my moistened clay with His mighty hands and places me on the Potter’s wheel.‭  ‬I hear His promise‭ “‬I have measured you:‭ ‬I know your portion‭; ‬I know the destiny I have for you.‭  For even though the enemy would want to kill you,‭ ‬I tell you,‭ ‬I have a mission and a calling for your life.‭”  “I will keep My hand in yours and guide you as a child.”  I whispered, “Yes, hold my hand Lord for if I hold Yours, I might let go.”

  He begins to center me on the wheel.‭ ‬Slowly,‭ ‬His gentle hands go down into the very depths of who I am as He pulls up the walls of my new vessel.

  I have to say since that day, I’ve been broken many times and the Potter has always taken me back to the Potter’s House and with His gentle, loving hands has put the broken pieces back together again.  Though we be scratched, scarred, blemished, defaced, and even what may appear as completely destroyed, marred and totally messed up, if we are in the Master’s hand there is still hope.  Though we be beaten up and bruised…bruised by the fiery darts of the devil, bruised by the fiery darts of the saints and the aints, remember we are in the Potter’s hands.

  We’re all cracked pots.‭ ‬ Some more broken than others but all have been broken at one time or the other and have felt the gentle hands of the Potter lovingly put us back together,‭ ‬one piece at a time.‭  ‬And if we will allow it,‭ ‬the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father’s table.

In His love,
Elizabeth