"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said,
"and suddenly I was spun around and around and around.
Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed.
But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

"Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat.
I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door.
I could see him through the opening
and I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.'

"Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool.
'There, that's better,' I said.
And he brushed and painted me all over.
The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.
'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

"Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one.
This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate.
I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried.
All the time I could see him through the opening,
nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'

"Then I knew there wasn't any hope.
I would never make it. I was ready to give up.
But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.
One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself.' And I did.
I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'
"'I want you to remember, then,' he said,
'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted,
but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up.
I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel,
but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.
I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven,
but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.
I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over,
but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened;
you would not have had any color in your life.
And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven,
you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held.
Now you are a finished product.
You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~


~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying,
"Arise and go down to the potter's house,
and there I shall announce My words to you."
Then I went down to the potter's house,
and there he was, making something on the wheel.
But the vessel that he was making of clay
was spoiled in the hand of the potter;
so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,
"Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?"
declares the Lord.
"Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand,
so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."
Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NASB)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Moral:
God knows what He's doing (for all of us).
He is the Potter, and we are His clay.
He will mold us and make us,
so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work
to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

If not working Click here

Author Unknown



Supplied for Our Devotions by David Aufrance - Missionary to Hong Kong

SUPPORT THE MINISTRY AND SAVE!
USA	UK
10% of profit from affiliate sales is donated as a 'gift of love' towards the cost to the ministry so that every thing we do remains FREE Please do support the ministry. Thank you

FastCounter by bCentral

Tell a Friend - Sign our Guest Book or Vote - Thank you