[Monday's Devotional] - We are the "Clay"

We are the "Clay" "Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins for ever. Oh, look upon us we pray, for we are all your people" Isaiah 64 v 8-9 [NIV] I was recently reminded of a Word for Today devotional I read many years ago: 'Imagine a beautiful china tea cup saying 'I wasn't always like this, there was a time when I was just a cold hard lump of clay.  One day the potter picked me up and said "I could do something with this."  Then he started to put pressure on me and change my shape.  I said "What are you doing? That hurts, Stop!" but he said "Not yet."  Then he put me on a wheel and began to spin me around and around until I shouted, "Let me off."  He replied "Not yet."  Then he shaped me into a cup and put me in a hot oven.  I cried, "Let me out of here, I'm suffocating" but he looked at me and said "Not yet."  When he took me out I thought his work on me was over but then he started to paint me.  I couldn't believe what he did next.  He put me back in the oven and I said "I can't stand this, please let me out!" but he said "Not yet."  Finally he took me out of the oven and set me on a shelf and held me up before a mirror.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I had become a beautiful teacup that everyone wants to buy'. Too often I feel more like a lump of useless clay than a beautiful china tea cup (perhaps the men could imagine a most perfect beer tankard?) but thankfully in the 'Potters' Hands' we can be re-moulded. There are things in our lives that we don't understand, but God shapes us into vessels he can use, bless and use to bless others. God wants to refine us into gilt edged, (not guilt edged) masterpieces, their value? ……….priceless!  Dawn Milward   Twitter Website Copyright © 2017 St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email as a subscriber to the Daily Devotionals Our mailing address is: St. Matthew & St. Oswald's Church 1a New Street Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 7BE United Kingdom Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Want to be added to our mailing list? - sign up here!