Learning to "Let It Go"

A Lesson on Surrender

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Jeremiah 18:1-6      The Potter and the Clay

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Jeremiah, go down to the potter's house. I will give you my message there."   So I went down to the potter's house and saw him working with clay at the wheel.  He was making a pot from clay. But there was something wrong with the pot. So the potter used that clay to make another pot. With his hands he shaped the pot the way he wanted it to be.   Then this message from the Lord came to me: ...you know that I can do the same thing with you. You are like the clay in the potter's hands, and I am the potter."

During one of the hardest seasons ever in my life, God showed up in a powerful way and helped me to "Let Go". It began one Wednesday when I was in Pigeon Forge, TN for a Healing Conference.

God orchestrated my day and took me to a very sacred moment with Him.  It began with the ladies luncheon at the Pottery Restaurant in Pigeon Forge. While there, I saw a piece of pottery that I wanted as a thank you gift for a couple who have poured their lives into mine during this difficult season in my life.  After the conference, I had enough time to return to the shop before the evening church service. I wasn't able to purchase the gift I wanted because their cash register system was down.  They couldn't even accept cash.  Not being able to get my thank you gift was frustrating. But, it was God's way of preparing my heart for what He wanted to show me later that night. While at the pottery store, I wound up talking with the potter who was working at the wheel on the shop floor.  I asked him if clay could ever get so hard it could no longer be used. Rather quickly, he said no and pointed to some pieces that had already been through the first firing and were stone hard.  He said, "we can still use that clay if we wanted to." I asked what the process would be to make the hard clay usable. He told me the first step would be to break the clay into tiny pieces.  When the potter told me that, I immediately thought how God likens our hearts to soil and to clay in the Bible.  I thought of the times when our hearts are broken into "tiny pieces." It is then that God is getting us ready for the potter's wheel.  I thought of how God has a purpose for us - to shape us into the image of His Son... Christ-likeness.  The potter went on to explain that clay has a "memory." Due to the "memory", the old, hard clay must have good clay worked into it.  The potter further explained, as he crisscrossed his fingers together, "the good clay bonds with the old hard clay. With the infusion of the good pliable clay, the hard clay's memory is reset.  The old hard clay can no longer revert back to it's old form."  He went on to explain, the new clay mixture is sent through an intense straining process which filters out any remaining pieces of hard clay. After the intense straining, more good clay is worked into the old hard clay.  It was all such a beautiful illustration of why God says He is the potter, and we are the clay. What a powerful message for my broken heart and for the broken hearts with whom I am working.  God is fulfilling His ultimate purpose in our lives. Even during the difficult and heart breaking times.  He is forming us into the image of His Son!  God is getting the bride ready for the bridegroom!  There is great purpose in our brokenness, for then God is able to work in our hearts. 

Later that night during the worship service we were singing the song 

It is Well With My Soul.  We sang the chorus numerous times. The next time I sang it, I found myself surrendering to God. Tears began to flow down my face as I considered both my circumstances and that I was genuinely telling God it was truly well with my soul. I closed my eyes. When I did, I saw the ship the hymn writer was on when he wrote the song. I saw the ship's captain tell the writer they were over the spot where his family went down. I watched him as he penned the words "it is well with my soul...."  Suddenly, I was standing where the writer had been standing.  I had slabs of hard clay in my hands. I saw myself as I let go of them one by one. They hit the ocean and slowly sank down.  As they sank, they swayed back and forth sinking deeper and deeper. As they sank out of sight, I sang the words "it is well with my soul." Each slab of clay represented someone I loved deeply. As I opened my hands, letting them fall into the ocean depths, I found myself letting go of each of those loved ones.  I entrusted each of them into God's unfathomable love and care.

The grief was deep. My stomach ached as the tears flowed. I sang to the Lord, "it IS well with my soul."  The pastor had us stop singing. He began to pray against the stronghold of addiction across our country and across the world.  After the prayer time we began to sing again. I closed my eyes once more, and I was back on the ship's deck looking out over the still ocean. I only saw the deep blue darkness of it's depths. Tears were flowing, as I continued to sing "it is well with my soul."  Out of the corner of my e

ye I saw a shimmering brilliantly bright speck of gold.  I turned to focus on it and noticed something rising from the deep waters.  As it rose, the something became my slabs of hard clay.  As they rose closer to the surface the more brilliantly and the more beautifully they glowed.  Each slab of hard clay was rising up as a beautiful and brilliant golden slab.  They were so bright I couldn't fully look upon them. My tears turned into laughter. A huge smile spread across my face.  God was giving me a glimpse into the work He was doing in each of my loved ones. It was beautiful beyond description. We don't always see what God is doing. But, when we trust Him in and through our circumstances and when we genuinely surrender those circumstances all to Him, our hearts are full of His joy and our lives are transformed to Christ-likeness.

If you would like to listen to the story behind this amazing hymn follow the link below. I promise you will be both blessed and encouraged!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvq3pYsHidA&t=1s