Don't despise the pressure.
Clay doesn't become beautiful by being left alone.
It is pressed.
Shaped.
Turned.
Refined.
Again and again.
Sometimes we ask God,
"Why is this season so difficult?"
When perhaps the better question is,
"What are You forming in me?"
The Potter never applies pressure without purpose.
Every turn of the wheel.
Every stretch.
Every moment that feels uncomfortable.
Every season that makes no sense.
Is in the hands of Someone who already sees the finished masterpiece.
The clay doesn't tell the Potter what it should become.
It simply stays in His hands.
Maybe that's the invitation for us today.
Stop fighting every difficult season.
Stop assuming every hardship means God has abandoned you.
Sometimes the pressure you're feeling isn't punishment.
It's preparation.
God isn't trying to break you.
He's shaping you into someone who can carry what He's preparing to place in your hands.
Trust the Potter.
Even when you don't understand the process.
Because the hands that are shaping you...
Are the same hands that created you.
But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah 64:8
- David Baugh