Vessel of Clay

“We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Since my last post, life has felt afflicted, perplexing, persecuted, and struck down. We are in a hard season as I know that a lot of other people are. I struggle with sharing my hard stuff because I don’t want to be a burden. I want to be an encourager and I have a hard time remembering that I can be an encourager by sharing my hard stuff which I am not going to go into today. Instead, I am going to share what I have been learning.

1. God is good and faithful ALL the time
2. God cares about the big and small things going on in our lives.
3. God delights in showing Himself to us through His creation, we just have to look
4. Suffering is not weakness as long as I learn from it and share what God is doing in spite of my suffering. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
5. I am a “vessel of earth” with Jesus living in me. I may be cracked and broken, but He is leading me and will demonstrate His power and presence in and through me if I let Him.

In closing, I will share a good story of how we celebrated New Years. As we sat down to dinner with my parents my dad prayed a prayer that brought tears to us all. It went something like this: “Lord as we start this new year, I pray that where there is fear, give us courage. Where there is weakness, give us strength. Where there is doubt, show us truth, and where we fail, forgive us.”

I pray this over anyone who reads this. May we all see the goodness of God and rely on Him and give us strength to get through every hard moment and season.