Challenged To The Core - Kathi Brixey

I clean, organize, cook and do laundry for long stretches of time and then I start to implode. My creative juices have been neglected too long. I start to rearrange the furniture and take down curtains to wash, iron and re-hang them. I start looking for whatever I can find to move, add to or put away to change the appearance of the rooms in my home. I can only go so long without feeding my creative inner being. I know that this sounds a little crazy but it is part of who I am. I need to be doing something creative at least once a week. One time many years ago my husband said he would help me get the Christmas decorations out to start decorating for the holidays. Well, I got out the ladder and a gallon of paint to paint the wall above the mantel because in my mind that was the first step to it looking fabulous with all the other nic’nac’s in place. I saw the whole picture and didn’t want to compromise the “look” for just getting it all done. We still laugh about my need to be creative that Christmas. Often when I am in a funk and feeling moody I can turn my mood around by just doing something creative. For instance during the holidays I will tear a wreath or garland apart and re-assemble it so it looks fresh and new, maybe even add an item from something else. I love to be creative and make something from nothing. I really like to “re-purpose” things from what they once were to a totally different use that serves our family for a much longer period of time and is just as useful. Well God wants to do that with us each and every day. God has a purpose for our lives. He has set a path before us that will bless us. However, sometimes we fight against what He wants just to seek our own selfish desires or we might even fail to see where He is leading us. Then we become like a “broken pot” needing to be “re-purposed” to serve Him in a new way.

How many times have you started down the path of serving God with every good intention only to stumble and give-up. Or perhaps things didn’t go exactly like you thought they would go. Disappointment is a powerful deterrent to achieving what God has called us to do. Is it a lack of will or laziness that makes us throw in the towel so quickly or could it just be that we are being disobedient? Thank goodness God never gives up on us. When we fail and fall the Lord finds a new purpose for our lives. He takes our gifts and talents and re-purposes them. He reshapes us, if you will, to better serve Him in another area. Just like the potter in Jeremiah, “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. Then the word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah 18:3-6 God wants us to be pliable and moldable in His hands. We are and will always be fallible in need of our Father’s tender touch. We need to learn to let go and let Him be in charge; I guarantee you will be happier that you have ever been in your entire life.

When we accept Christ as our Savior and give Him our life the next step is to let Him have complete control of our lives. This is where most Christians begin their struggle with their human self. Satan surely doesn’t want God to control you, he wants to. But we are created by God for His glory and to serve Him. This is where letting God continue to mold you become’s so important. He knows the plans He has for us and what will best suit us for those plans. Have you ever noticed how well children who are in a loving environment sleep at night. They haven’t a worry or care in the world. Mommy and Daddy will be there in the morning, food will be on the table and all is well with their world. They rest in this knowledge and have experienced that mom and dad are their security. They wake refreshed and ready for the new day. God asks us to have a “child-like” faith in Him so that we can rest in Him just like our children do in us. It seems so simple because it is! Don’t try to make it harder than it is. Just as children experience the security of their earthly parents every day we can also rest in the sovereignty of God.

I love the bumper sticker that reads; “Don’t laugh, God’s not done with me yet.” These are true words for most of us, and hopefully a prayer of all of us. I want to be a lump of clay in God’s hand every day. If He chooses to move me and use me I will be blessed. If I fail and become a “broken pot” my prayer will be for Him to “re-purpose” my life again and continue to use me as He sees fit. I know my creativity is from Him, although I think He has a good laugh when He watches my feeble attempt at making something from nothing. What can I say, I’m just a little crazy! My prayer for you, as you “check your pulse” this week is to examine yourself, are there some cracks in your pot? Would you like to be “re-purposed” again, to be used in a different way, perhaps an even better way? I know you’re going to find some cracks, the question is, what are you going to ask Him to do about them? I hope and pray it is to go from a broken pot to being re-purposed at the hand of the potter!