Tag: shine

unadorned cracked pot

Karla Lees

We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.

2 Cor 4:7a MSG

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

2 Cor 4:7 NIV

But this beautiful treasure is contained in us – cracked pots made of earth and clay – so that the transcendent character of this power will be clearly seen as coming from God and not from us.

2 Cor 4:7 The Voice

This past few weeks have been ones where a few more of my cracks seems to have become wider gaps.

I feel stretched.

As the Potter’s hand works on clay, He keeps needing to wet the clay in order to reshape it.

When i stop seeking His living water, I get too dry.

And cracks form in my pot as it hardens.

The good news?

God can soften hard pots.

But it leaves cracks behind.

I heard a story about a young gal who had to carry water in a cracked pot back & forth, day in and day out. By the time she got home there wasn’t the amount of water she started out with.

Long story short, beautiful flowers appeared on the side of the road where the water had been dripping, day after day.

God never wastes, not one single drop, from our cracks.

I have often wondered if I didn’t have the flaws & foibles I had if God would use me as much….because i suspect i wouldn’t feel the need for Him as acutely as I do throughout my days.

Today, I felt the cracks, after a few days of God soaking & spinning & pressing & smoothing.

I know how much I need Him, the more He sets me free & guides me.

To Him, I am chosen.
To the world, I appear a pudgy married mom of two young adults, with curly red hair & glasses, with a zany sense of humour, who loves words, tea and right now in this cold spell, her heating pad. 🙂

An unadorned cracked pot.

Yet God chooses to use me…

I know that when I have met someone who radiates Jesus, I don’t pay as close attention to their cracks or flaws….I see Jesus pouring out through them.

That’s my heart’s desire.

To be cracked in all the right places for Jesus to shine through me, so although I am humble clay, the Almighty can use me for His glory.

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The Good News Message for us all?

God can use all of us, despite our cracks, chips & holes.

It’s about our availability, our holding out our hands to be filled, not about our capability.

It’s about His ability, to use the cracked, broken & lowly to shoe the world just how loving, graceful, kind, mighty & powerful He really is!

I’m a cracked pot, how about you?

out of the dark

Karla Lees

All new life comes out of the dark places.

-Ann Voskamp

Out of the hard broken places, hope can spring. If you keep a small nugget alive…like a tiny mustard seed just waiting to germinate.

You see, I know first hand how this is true.

The dark places help illuminate the hidden truth waiting to be found.

Being abandoned helped me know God as faithful.

Being broken led me to discover Him as healer.

Feeling lonely, He met me within, and has never left me since. God is with me.

Scared when facing hard news, He has been my Comfort.

In loss, He has always Provided.

With storms, He is my Anchor, and brings Peace.

Without the opposite to illuminate His quality, I might miss experiencing them first hand.

I am not saying that God sends terrible actions on us just to reveal Himself to us.

Humanity has enough within it to bring on more than enough terrible acts without blaming God for them.

I am saying God is, always has been, and always will be revealing Himself to all of us who are, ever were and ever will be on earth.

His quality, His true character shines for all to see.
His handiwork in the natural world around us is breathtaking.
His skill and depths of creativeness in making each person on earth unique and original is mind blowing.

The fact He keeps radiating love towards us, despite all the yuck and muck we being upon ourselves, the pain and hurt inflicted by others, our shattered dreams and what its…shows just how amazing that love truly is.

Every winter, the earth prepares itself for a hard time. The ground is dark, hard and nor very appealing as the season passes.

The perennial seeds we planted in moments of hope will come to life when the Light, and spring, arrive
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The dark times will move into their place in our distant memory when HiStory steps in, ready and willing to release the new life just waiting for us to invite Him in.

pitch black?

Karla Lees

We all have days that can be tricky to navigate.

A coworker shared with me today they believe they had been in a really dark place while at university.

A good friend is trying to hold their head up high and keep moving forward despite the darkness swirling around a legal battle. And battle it has been.

A few of us, myself included in my circle of friends are all coming out of dark places. Having each others’ support helped the climb back out easier.

Another is down in the depths struggling to find her way.

Through it all, God is still God.

That might seem trite, or casually stated, but it is anything but.

God is ruling 24/7, 365 days a year, for all time. Eternity, in fact.

He who set time, the stars, moon, sun, sky, waters, and land in their place. Who made all creatures, great & small. Who made man & woman, their home, gave them each other & their purpose.

He is still ruling over it all.
Always has, always will.

This fact is one of the bright lights I fix my eyes upon when I have been in my darkest places.

His unswerving love for me,
His constant presence,
whether I feel it or not.
His plans for me, to bless me,
to give me a bright future.

These truths twinkle as I make my way through the dark.

In fact, without the dark, they might not appear to shine as brilliantly and clearly as they do.

They are the guides to help me find my way back Home, when I struggle to see the path.

My trust is in Him, not what I see about me.

For my vision may easily be swayed, falter or dim, but His will never fail.

His light will continue to shine for all eternity.

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. John 1:5 MSG

Holiness has a radiance that the deepest dark cannot squelch.

When all appears pitch black, take another look.

God is there, waiting for you to catch a glimpse of Him. To hear His whisper of loving Hope.

Never doubt, light wins in the end.
Love triumphs.

Just because you have been in a dark place, it does not mean God has abandoned you.

The fact you are still here?
Proof He has not.

I have had a few dark moments, and a few even darker periods, when i felt my heart shatter and i couldn’t keep on going. God never seemed closer than when I was completely depending on Him, and how He wanted me to see those moments.

The light He provided to help me combat the sheer dark was more than enough.

May you see His light shine through the dark you are faced with, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is more than enough to help you through it.

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