FEELING LOVED....

This past week I had the opportunity to present a lesson in our women's Wednesday night fall series.  The series is on spiritual imagery in the Bible and we've heard some great lessons so far on how God sees us as the body, an athlete, a garden, a soldier...and my topic was a jar made of clay.

Everyone should get the chance to do this!  I really dug into my topic the last couple of months, studying all the occurrences of clay, pottery, earthen vessels, etc. in the Bible and also learning all I could about the qualities of clay, throwing clay, and making a piece of pottery from a blob of clay.

 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.

    We are the clay, you are the potter;

    we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8

One of the things that struck me as I thought about God, the Master Potter, was that he took time creating me.  He loves me so much!  You should watch a potter throwing clay - it's truly beautiful!  God  took me, a lifeless blob, purified me, centered me on the wheel, and has gently but firmly been shaping me ever since! We are all works in progress and he has a purpose for all of us.  One humorous way to look at it, from my powerpoint:

I loved this and we are uniquely positioned in our world to have influence over different people.  That is fulfilling our purpose.  I'd like to challenge you to think about who you live with, who you work with, who you play with, who you exercise with, who you volunteer with...and the influence you have on them.  Think about what kind of legacy you are leaving.  God created you and does have a purpose for you!

I hope you are feeling loved today.  Because God truly loves you!