Wasted Years....

The reality is that we HAVE been forgiven. And Jesus paid with His life
for it. And to allow the enemy to continually burden us with our past is to
reject this precious gift of Salvation. We are body, mind and spirit. When
the enemy comes to attack, we have to learn to break ourselves down into our
simplest form. Our minds as we know are the Devil's playground. We need to
take charge and when the enemy starts to whisper and replay our pasts we
need to do something immediately to break that thought process! I find that
just saying out loud no matter where I am "STOP", works fine. Those that
are in your immediate area will think you a bit nuts...but oh well...better
than letting the enemy corner you again. The same with our body...it shows
the ravages of our past choices and reality says, what's was done is done
and all we can do is work from here. But our Spirit's. This is the part of
us that we cannot see and yet we need to learn to look at it in the Spirit
and see it for the spotless beauty it is in the eyes of God because it was
washed in the blood of His Son. There is NOTHING that the enemy can do
about our Spirit's once that we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior!!
All he can do is work on our minds and bodies that are carnal. We need to
enforce the mind of Christ in our everyday lives and then we will see
ourselves as He sees us, and that will give us the power over the
condemnation of the enemy we need. Romans 12:2 "And be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."(KJV) If
you used to live in a literal sewer, you most certainly would not want to go
back there. But when someone says to you, "You used to live in the sewer?!"
You can say with pride, "Yes I did, and I had plenty of company too. (they
know were they lived too!) But that only makes me appreciate where I am now
and all the good I can do for others because of the hard lessons that I have
learned." I think that is called having a testimony. Giving your
testimony is not having pride in where you have been but it is a statement
of where you are now because and only because of Jesus. Don't worry about
wasted years. They, in the whole great vast scheme of things are but a few
ticks of the clock. What, after all, is time "past"spent in the sewer? We
have our whole lives ahead of us...and because of our precious Jesus, that
reality is our eternity in flawless beauty and peace with Him....Patti

Keep Your Fingers Out of the Clay!

Our Father in Heaven is referred to by many names and the Potter is one of
them. I was writing to encourage a friend today and by mentioning something
that happened to me long ago that involved a Potter, I touched her beyond my
wildest intentions. But, as with so many times that I minister to someone,
I realize that it is not me talking, but the inspiration of the sweet Holy
Spirit working through me. By helping her today, the Holy Spirit also gave
me a word for you.

Back in high school I had a friend that was a potter. She was very good,
and took her work very seriously. I was in the art room one day and I
watched her as she was on the wheel. I watched as she shaped what was at
first a gooey mess into the rough shape of a vase. She was deep in
concentration and I suddenly got the idea that it would be funny to reach
out and just put my fingerprint on what she was doing. To my horror, the
minute that I touched the side of the spinning work in process, it literally
flew apart!! In just the time it took me to reach out and touch what was
just seconds before and intricate work of art in process, I had destroyed
it!!! She was livid! And rightfully so.

As I was thinking back on that incident, this came to me. We are all in the
Potter's hand. We are continually being formed and shaped to better serve
ourselves, others, and Him. And we as Christians have learned not to strive
with bad situations, but to turn them over to our Heavenly Father to take
care of for us. This is one of our great gifts of the Cross. But the flesh
is short-sighted. The flesh is impatient and curious. And the enemy always
takes advantage of these short comings and comes in and tells us that God is
not working fast enough. His lack of quick results for us causes us to ask,
"Hey, where are my results? I asked for this a month ago and I have not
seen a thing from you God. I am on a schedule here and I need you to keep
up!!" It doesn't seem to sound this way when we are saying it to God, but
it looks ridiculous when you see it in print! Just as God created perfect
order in the universe, every solution to every situation has it's perfect
order in the hands of the Potter as well. You cannot just slap come clay on
the old wheel and give it a couple of quick spins and voila expect to have
anything that will last and endure the test of time. Is that what you
really want from God? Some piece of junk that YOU could make? I didn't
think so. The art of pottery is beauty in itself. The clay alone must be
worked to just the right consistency and temperature. Then the way it is
put on the wheel takes care or the work will fly off the wheel when it
starts to spin faster as the most intricate work is being done. Then the
potter has to add just the right amount of moisture as the wheel turns to
keep the clay subtle so it can continue to be worked. And then the potter
must apply different pressure in different locations on the work at just the
right time to get the desired effect. And then when the work is just as the
potter wants it, it must be cut loose and yet remain on the wheel to dry and
cure before it can be placed in the kiln to be fired to a hard finish. The
it cools again before it can be taken from the kiln. Then it is removed and
the potter selects just the right glaze for his work. That is when it truly
becomes the work of art it is meant to be. But then it has to go back into
the kiln and be fired at an even hotter heat to bring out all the pigments
and refine the glaze. Then more cooling. It is only then that the work is
ready to be displayed. It is the same with the person or yourself that you
turn over to the Great Potter God. He works in His PERFECT way to perform a
work in you and others. What emerges is always beautiful in the eyes of the
Potter. It is another unique and perfect creation. So why do we constantly
think that by sticking our nose and fingers into God's work, once we have
commissioned Him to do the work we could in any way be helping? We only
mess things up! We don't know what God is doing. Trust me, He doesn't need
our help. So the next time you are tempted to help The Potter remember
this. Keep your fingers out of the clay!!!.....Patti