The Potter's Hand

Use me, Fill me

I give my life to the Potter's hands

Hold me, Guide me

Lead me, Walk beside me

I give my life to the Potter's hand

On March 7, 2004, I attended a Sunday evening service at Christian Life Assembly… I will never, ever forget that night. I was sitting beside Len & Jean Page… in the "old sanctuary." Pastor Bob Kapp shared a very short message before we entered an extended time of worship. As we sang those words above - take me, mold me, use me, fill me, I give myself to the Potter's hand - God began to whisper "are you ready to allow me to mold you into what I need you to be to accomplish my plan for your life?" 

Every good Pentecostal Christian girl knows that when God asks a question like that, you raise your hands in completed submission and proclaim "yes, Lord." And that is what I did without skipping a beat… without any hesitation. 

It wasn't long before I realized what a life changing prayer I had prayed. I was so naive. I had no idea that this molding process was going to suck and suck bad. 

Since 2004, every significant move of God in my life and ministry has begun with those words. 

Take me.

Mold me.

I give my life to the Potter's hand. 

Last spring, as I was walking through a challenging situation, God brought this song to my mind during my time alone with Him one Sunday morning. 

Tears streamed down my face as I heard Him whisper those all too familiar words "are you ready to allow me to mold you?" 

I was 15 years older and no longer so naive. I knew that if I agreed, it was going to be hard. But my answer was the same as it was in March of 2004.  Without reservation and knowing all too well that the molding process would, in fact, suck, I proclaimed, "yes, Lord." 

Spring 2019 did suck. But here's the thing . . . in just three short months, I faced things and learned lessons that would have taken several years to learn without that sucky situation. 

You see, when tough stuff comes, by circumstances beyond our control or even by our own doing, we get to choose to hold tight to control or raise our hands in submission.

I pray that I will always make that same choice. The choice to give my life to the Potter's Hand.

Are You Tired of Resetting?

It’s a new month. For me, like many of you, the start of a new month tends to represent fresh beginnings, new opportunities… a time to reset and refocus. 

But this month is a little different. No it’s a lot different. Our world is just not the same place it was a short month ago. COVID-19 has changed all that.

Truth be told, as leader of a youth nonprofit, the whole coronavirus thing started for me at the end of February. By the first week of March, not only was I planning for so many unknowns but I was also beginning to need to calm the fears of those around me. But it wasn't until March 16th that it changed my life. 

That was the day I became temporarily unemployed. My husband had been working from home for about a week at that point. My girls attend a cyber charter school so they’ve been at home all along. But all of a sudden, we had four people and a dog and four workstations (yes, I said four… this crazy driven person is not about to sit still while she is unemployed).

April 1. New Month. New Opportunities. Fresh Beginnings. Reset. Refocus. 

Been there. Done that. For 17 days. 17 freakin days. I'm no longer motivated to refocus and I've grown tired of resetting.

Our family sat down that very first day and we talked through what we all needed… not just to complete our tasks for school and work but more importantly, what we all needed to keep our sanity… what projects we wanted to do, what we would do for fun, how we wanted to utilize and not waste this time. We had a great plan.

Maybe your family is like mine. Maybe you sat down together and came up with a plan. Maybe you are making a plan week-to-week. Maybe you made a plan and it has changed six times already. And maybe, just maybe, you're like me, and at some point during the last several weeks you've questioned why you even bothered to plan or wondered if you can even achieve 1/10 of what you set out to achieve. 

No matter where you find yourself today, if you are wondering what to do with this new month… I’d like to make a few suggestions: 

#1 Lower your expectations. 

#2 Don’t compare your game plan to anyone else’s. 

#3 Be flexible. 

Here’s the thing, it doesn’t matter if you’re working from home like my husband, essential personnel like my two sons or temporarily unemployed like me… this is tough. I message with people each day. Their emotions are all over the place, from anger to gratefulness, fear to hopefulness and optimism to sadness. These unprecedented times in our history are tough… physically and emotionally. To thrive, we are going to need to be kind to ourselves and those around us. We can’t expect to run at peak performance all the time, we have to understand that each of us need different things right now and we have to learn to roll with the day-to-day changes. 

So today, as you consider the new month and new opportunities, I want to encourage you to take a deep breath, take a walk or maybe just take a nap. As then as you reset for a new month, I want to encourage you to refocus your attention on grace and give yourself and everyone around you a little extra grace.

Lessons Learned from Forky

On my kitchen windowsill, above my sink, sit two figurines. Both purchased from the Dollar Tree. One came in a bag of one-hundred, yet I only have possession of one… and that was by accident. The other was purchased all by itself.

Both figurines sit on this kitchen windowsill… where I spend an insane amount of time washing dishes. 

They both sit there as reminders. Reminders of lessons learned. Or honestly, maybe they’re lessons I’m still learning. 

The little one inch army man… well, he represents a book that probably needs to be co-authored... so we'll save that story for another day.

But Forky... Forky is my absolute favorite Disney character. If you’re not familiar with him, Forky is a character in Pixar’s Toy Story 4. In the movie, released in 2019, Bonnie created Forky at her kindergarten orientation... out of a few craft supplies and a spork from a nearby wastebasket. Like many kindergarten students, in Bonnie’s eyes, her creation was a masterpiece. 

The dictionary defines the word masterpiece as a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship. To his creator, Forky was all of those things.

But Forky… well, he didn't think he was a masterpiece. In fact, he thought he was trash. Throughout the movie, Forky is seen attempting to climb into every wastebasket he sees. He fails to see his worth. He fails to see how incredibly valuable he is to the one that created him. 

Hmm… while I might not have arms made of pipe cleaners, googly eyes or a plastic head, I have a few things in common with Forky. I, too, fail to understand how valuable I am to my Creator. And just like Forky, I need to be reminded of my worth. 

God’s word tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that you and I… we are His masterpieces. We do not belong in the wastebasket of shame and guilt and fear. We belong safely in the hand of the One who created us… 

Forky sits on my windowsill as a daily reminder of that incredible truth.

The Pursuit of Peace

Yes, it was chilly outside this morning at 6 o'clock.

But chilly or not, the outdoors was calling my name so I threw on a sweatshirt and made my way to my favorite spot in my new home . . . the balcony. As I held a cup of hot coffee in my hands, I embraced the moments of quiet and listened to the distance sounds of the world waking up.

As I stood, the word that came to my mind was . . . peaceful. 

Peaceful. Peace. Those words have been coming to me a lot the last few weeks.

The pursuit of peace has been something that I have made a priority most of my adult life. Real peace . . . not the kind of temporary perceived peace that comes when you ignore problems, hide from conflict or refuse to confront situations and people that require confrontation. But true peace . . . the kind of peace that you can feel in your body, mind and spirit.

But full disclosure . . . over the last few years, I've allowed toxins to creep in all areas of my life and steal some of my peace.

You know, I said I wouldn’t do a “word of the year” this year after last year’s fiasco . . . but I also said I wouldn’t ever live in Steelton and here we are so . . .

Two words keep coming back to me the last three weeks since our move . . . peace and detox.

And as held my cup off coffee looking out over my back yard this morning, it occurred to me that those two words . . . these two words, well, they go hand in hand.

Here is the thing . . . as you and I rid our lives, relationships, bodies, minds and spirits of toxic things and replace them with positive things . . . a sense of peace will be present.

I don't know about you but I'm ready to get rid of the toxins and live a peaceful 2020! I'd love for you to join me!