I am the clay in The Potter’s hands. 

My heart is the garden The Farmer cultivates.

My life is the canvas the Master Artist paints on.

My calling requires I be refined by The Refiner’s Fire.

I Am Clay in The Potter’s Hands; I Come Broken to the Cross.

But it’s much easier to type it out, than to live it out. Over the last few months, I have been going through some painful pruning. While I am grateful for the refining fire, it has gotten hot up in here. I needed to let go of the brush and hand it back to The Master Artist and let The Farmer weed and till the soil of my heart.

Many times over the past few months I have come broken to the cross saying, “God, please give me enough for the next 60 seconds.”

Recently I started writing down what I do in those 60 seconds. (See the image).

I Am Clay in The Potter’s Hands; He Promises to be with Me 

Beloved, God never promised that the road would be easy, but He promised He would be with you every step of the way and every second of every day.

• When the fire burns, take the pain to The Refiner.
• When your emotions are “spazzing” out, take them to The Farmer and let him weed the soil of your heart.
• When you are falling apart, fall apart in the hands of The Potter.
• When the picture of your life becomes distorted, let The Master Artist restore you to the masterpiece He created you to be.

I Am Clay in The Potter’s Hands; I Tend My Emotional Environment

Your feelings alone are not a good barometer to measure yourself by. Yes, feelings are normal and natural. Correct, God created us with feelings, but that does not mean we put them above God and His promises to us. One important thing I have learned in the last few months on this emotional roller coaster ride, is if I do not tend to the environment that is my emotions, it can quickly get overgrown with weeds. Weeds of guilt, shame, blame, self-loathing, despair, bitterness, anger, resentment and “unforgiveness.” These weeds become so overgrown that if I am not careful, I spend so much time and energy weeding I forget to tend to and fertilize the good fruit I should be cultivating.

I Am Clay in The Potter’s Hands; I Run to The Father

The enemy is out to steal, kill and destroy and if he can keep us distracted weeding, it takes our time and attention away from developing the fruit of the Spirit. I become so busy fighting him in my own strength that I take my eyes off the Master Gardner. Now, I am not saying that we stop tending to the garden and stop uprooting the weeds; uprooting the weeds is necessary work. However, as we tend to the environment of our emotions, we need to remember that we co-create and tend to the garden of our emotions in partnership with our Heavenly Father. So we need to keep our focus on Him. We need to tend, prune and cultivate as He directs and surrender to Him.

When our emotions are overgrown and out of control, we need to run to the Father and ask Him:

1. for the strategy to uproot the emotions that are choking out our passion and purpose and
2. for the healthy, appropriate seed to plant in its place.

I Am Clay in The Potter’s Hands; He Directs, Plans, Teaches, and Helps

The key is to let God direct, determine, and map out the look, feel, and purpose for your emotional environment. Just as with a natural garden, the environment of your emotions needs to be tended to and maintained daily.

The joy is that God does not leave us to tend it alone!

• The Father lays out the Master Plan for the landscaping project. He has the blueprint to create a beautiful, bountiful garden overflowing with good fruit for the nations.
• Jesus walks the garden with us, teaching us about each plant, good and bad, arming us with the tools we need, and directing our work for His glory. He teaches, corrects, leads, guides, holds our hand, and sits with us as we rest in the shade of the trees, sharing His bread of life with us.
• The Holy Spirit helps us do the work; encouraging, comforting, positioning, and keeping us in a posture of worship, expectancy, and gratitude to the Master Gardner.

As you would do in your physical space, monitor your emotional landscape. De-clutter it. Tidy it up. Fill the space with God’s pleasurable things that bring you joy, serve a purpose, and support the life you are co-creating with your Father.

I Am Clay in The Potter’s Hands; What does your emotional environment look like right now?

Take it to the Master Gardner and let HIM direct your efforts. He will tell you where, what, and when to prune, till, sow, and produce fruit. You are a Crown Rocker. He has chosen you and He has crowned you with the identity of His beloved child. Trust me, He cares about the state of your emotions. He is there with you. Instead of letting your emotions run rampant and control you, take them ALL – good, bad, and in-between –  to Him and see the good, good fruit He will produce in you!

We will turn to The Father, Our Master Gardener at ur #2020NACWEConference this September!

Won’t you join us?!

http://nacwe.org/2020nacweconference

Love,

Jasmine Tosseth Smith