Come to the Potter’s Shack

Come! Come to the Potter’s Shack today. The Potter is here, waiting for you.

Come as a child, eager to see the gift the Potter is shaping on His wheel, just for you today.

Come as a bride, longing to sit in His presence, loving to be with the Potter for who He is.

Come as a worshipper. Sing praises to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Dance with joy for all He has done. Rejoice with hope for all He has planned for you.

Come to the Potter’s Shack. Spend one hour today with God and experience wonderful times of refreshment in the presence of the Lord. Then come back tomorrow and the next day. The Potter is here, waiting for you to come.

The Potter’s Touch

The potter worked at his task
With patience, love and skill.
A vessel, marred and broken,
He altered again to his will.
It was blackened, bent and old
But with traces of beauty left,
So he worked, this mender of pottery,
To restore the charm bereft,
Till at last it stood transformed
And he viewed it with tender eyes,
The work of his hands and love,
This potter, patient and wise.

I know a Mender of broken hearts,
And of lives that are all undone;
He takes them all, as they come to Him
And He loves them, every one.
With patience, love and skill
That surpasses the knowledge of men,
This Master Potter gathers the lost
And restores to His image again.
O Lover of folk with broken lives,
O wonderful Potter Divine,
I bring my soul for Thy healing touch;
In me, let Thy beauty shine.

-from Springs in the Valley, March 28 selection, by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

The Potter’s Heart

My child,

I love you with an everlasting live. You are my treasure! You are my joy! I delight in you.

When you come to me, confessing your sins, I wash you until you are as white as snow! I cast your sins into the depths of the deepest ocean and see them no more.

I cherish the time each day you come to Me and place yourself willingly upon my Potter’s wheel. I hold you in my strong hands. I shape you and mold you, for I have a wonderful plan for you. This plan includes a future and a hope. This plan has been in my heart for you since the creation of the world.

I have longed for this day today when you would be here on my Potter’s wheel, pliable in my hands to shape you into a vessel that I can breathe my Holy Spirit into.

I give you wonderful times of refreshment and renewal here in my presence, here in the Potter’s Shack. I give you strength and peace and hope. I give you My promise to work all things into good concerning you, even that one issue that concerns you right now the most.

I love you. I delight over you by singing a happy song. I will give you a new song to sing, a song of joy that wells up deep from within your heart.

The Potter’s Best

Today is overwhelming, Lord. Work has been stressful. Everything seems out of sorts. It’s all been too much.

I am so weak! I feel like a brown, shapeless lump of clay. I’ve failed again, Lord. The ugly stain of sin is all I see.

So here I am, Lord, in Your presence. I place myself on your Potter’s wheel. I lay here, confessing the sins I have done. Please forgive me.

Take me, Lord, here on your Potter’s wheel. Do not cast me aside from your presence. I am willing, Lord, for you to do whatever it takes to shape me into the vessel you want me to be.

I trust you to create in me a clean heart and a heart that hungers after you and your ways. I trust you to work in my life as you know best.

The Potter’s Best

God wants to make the very best He can of each of His children. He puts us on His wheel, and subjects us to the discipline which He deems most likely to secure our greatest blessedness and usefulness.

But alas! How often he finds a marred vessel left on His hands when He desired and sought perfect beauty and strength! This is through no failure on HIs part; but beause some bubble of vanity or grit of self-will has hindered Him.

When this has been the case, He does not cast us utterly away; but puts us afresh on the wheel and “makes us again.” If He cannot do what He desired at the first, He will still make the best of us; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Yield yourselves afresh to God. Confess that you have marred His work. Humbly ask that He should make you again, as He made Jacob again, and Peter, and John, and Mark.

There is simply no limit to the progress and development of the soul which is able to meet God with a never-faltering “Yes.” Be very prompt to obey all that He may impress upon you as being His holy will. Let your life, like clay in the potter’s hands, be pliable to the Maker’s touch!

-from Springs in the Valley, March 28 selection, by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, selection from the Daily Devotional Commentary

Our Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23

Can you believe that God would compare us to sheep? Being raised in a farming state, I’ve heard that sheep are not the smartest creatures on earth. In fact, they are quite shy and scared of everything! Maybe their own shadow would scare them. Sheep panic and sometimes can’t flee from dangerous situations because they are too scared and stressed. Sheep also have a natural inclination to follow a leader, whether good or bad. Is this sounding familiar?

We are God’s sheep, and He is the Great Shepherd. Without Him, we would wander down wrong paths, get lost, and have a panic attack. We have the perfect Shepherd to care for us. Just like a shepherd protects his sheep from hungry wolves, our Great Shepherd protects us from one who wants to devour us. I’m thankful our shepherd is God Almighty!

He is inviting you as His sheep to spend time with Him in green pastures, quiet waters, and paths of righteousness. Stay in His flock, and His goodness and love will follow you forever.

-contributed by Tina M. Cho

The Potter’s Shack

Each day the Potter invites us to come spend time with Him in the Potter’s shack. Each day, we are invited to come be in His presence.

As people are gathering in the Potter’s shack today, one is a woman and one is a worshipper. In the woman’s hand is a long list. She falls at the feet of the Potter, begging Him to give her everything on her list.

Never even noticing the beautiful vessel the Potter is shaping on His wheel, this woman pleads with the Potter. “Give me what I want! Give it to me today! Give it to me now!” She cries and pleads, looking at her list often, fretting that the Potter is not giving her anything she asks for.

She does not stop to look at the beautiful vessel the Potter is shaping just for her. Finally, still weeping, she gets up and leaves the Potter’s shack. She feels that the Potter does not love her. She doesn’t understand why the Potter didn’t give her everything she asked for. She’s been coming to the shack for many days, each time begging Him to give her the things on her list, but not once has He given her a single thing she’s wanted. She never stops to look at the priceless treasure He’s shaping on the wheel for her. She never stays long enough to receive the gifts He wants to give her. She always just comes into the Potter’s shack, begs Him to give her the items on her list, and then leaves.

Meanwhile, the worshipper has stayed in the Potter’s shack. The worshipper is wearing a turban just like Aaron’s was. Written across the turban are the words, “Set apart as holy unto the Lord.” The worshipper has put on music. Soon beautiful worship music fills the Potter’s shack. The Potter smiles as He works at the wheel.

The worshipper dances in worship before the Potter. Then the worshipper praises the Potter. “You are worthy of our trust!” cries the worshipper. “You are holy and everything you do is perfect and good!”

This continues for quite awhile as the Potter smiles and continues to work at His wheel. Finally, a beautiful vase is finished. The Potter takes the vase off the wheel and collects all the beautiful notes of worship and praise inside the vase. The Potter hands the vase to the worshipper, whose heart is glad to receive this treasure. The worshipper says good-bye to the Potter and promises to return the next day. He carries the vase away with him, and the blessings he receives fill his heart with joy. The Potter hears the worshipper continue to praise Him and worship Him as the worshipper heads down the path away from the Potter’s shack.

Come to the Potter’s shack today! Come, spend one hour alone today with God. Don’t come with a laundry list of complaints or demand your wish list and prayer requests be filled immediately. Come into the Potter’s shack as a worshipper and worship and minister unto the Lord. We are all called to be a kingdom of worshipper. Come with a heart of thanksgiving, praising Him for all He has done and will continue to do! Worship before Him and then, plan to come back tomorrow to the Potter’s shack for another time of worship and praise. Your life will never be the same.

The Potter’s Shack

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, NKJV

Each day, the Potter invites us to come and sit with Him in the Potter’s shack. Each day, the Potter invites us to come and stay with Him for awhile, enjoying His presence, experiencing times of refreshment for our souls.

As people gather in the Potter’s shack today, one is a very important woman who heads many important ministries. The other is the Potter’s bride.

The important woman keeps looking at her watch. “I really need to get going,” she says several times, standing next to the Potter as He is working at the wheel. “I have a lot of things I’m responsible for doing,” she reminds the Potter. “Can you please hurry up there?”

But the Potter just keeps working steadily at the wheel, shaping and forming the lump of clay in His hands.

The important woman starts tapping her foot impatiently. Finally, exasperated with how slow the Potter is working, she decides to leave. She rushes out the door and hurries off to work feeling dissatisfied, disappointed, and discouraged. She had hoped to get something from the Potter today but nothing happened and she didn’t have time to stay any longer.

Meanwhile, the Potter’s bride has been sitting with the Potter in His shack. She is sitting at the feet of the Potter. She rests her head on His knee as He works. A glow of adoration lights up her face as she can’t keep her eyes off of the Potter.

His bride is content with whatever the Potter is making on the wheel. She just delights to be in His presence! She knows the Potter loves her and cherishes her. This is more important than anything He might make for her on his wheel or give to her.

She loves the Potter. She lingers there with Him, just enjoying being by His side. Her favorite part of every day is when she can be with her beloved, alone with Him.

Come to the Potter’s shack today! Come, spend one hour alone today with God. Don’t come as the important woman came, however, hurried and harried because of all the commitments you have on your plate. She felt that her responsibilities were more important than the Potter. She was so busy that she left before the Potter had finished with the treasure He was preparing to give her today.

Come as a bride and sit at the feet of the Potter. Linger in His presence. Cherish what it means to look into the face of your beloved, rather than just be expecting a gift from His hand. Spend time with Him. Relax with Him. Wait for Him. He has a special treasure He wants to give to you today. Then come back again tomorrow and sit with the Potter in his shack. He has a new treasure just perfect for tomorrow’s situation. Each day He is working in His shack to create something precious to meet your daily needs. Come, sit with Him, wait on Him, and receive.

The Potter’s Shack

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made. I will speak to you while you are there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again.
-Jeremiah 18:1-5

Each day, the Potter invites us to come to his Potter’s shack. He sits at His wheel, shaping and forming a lump of clay into something new.

Each day, we are invited to come, sit at His feet, and experience the intimacy of being in the presence of the Potter.

As people gather in the Potter’s shack today, one is a man. The other is a child. The man is uptight as he watches the Potter shape the clay on the wheel. The Potter isn’t making the vessel that the man had in mind. The man grows angry. “Why are you making it that way?” the man demands of the Potter. “I don’t want it that way!” But the Potter keeps working.

Finally, the man storms out of the Potter’s shack. He stands just outside. “Don’t go in there!” he shouts to people walking up to the path of the shack. “You’ll be disappointed! You’ll not get what you want in there!”

Listening to his angry words, many people turn away. They never again make the journey to try to visit the Potter’s shack. All they hear is the angry man’s words in their heads, warning them not to enter in.

Meanwhile, however, the small child is still in the Potter’s shack. All this time, the small child has eagerly been watching the skilled hands of the Potter. The child leans in, closer and closer to the Potter. Suddenly, the small child confides, “I’m not sure what you’re making, but you’re making me a present, aren’t you?”

The Potter smiles at the child and nods. “I’m making this just for you.”

The child sighs with satisfaction and smiles up at the Potter. “Whatever it is, I just know it will be perfect!”

Come to the Potter’s shack today! Come, spend one hour alone today with God. Don’t come as the angry man came, however, filled with his own expectations and demanding his own agenda. Come as a small child. Trust that God is working. He has a purpose and a plan for you. Even if you don’t understand it, choose to trust that God is working all things into good for you. Trust Him with the innocent heart of a child.

A Walk at the Beach

My dear critique group buddy and friend, Veronica Walsh, shares about her time alone with God in this precious post. Enjoy!

A Walk at the Beach
The alarm goes off, but I’m already awake. I feel like a child on Christmas morning. A gift awaits me and I’m excited to receive it.

I dress in a hurry and head out the door. A hot cup of coffee, a sweatshirt and a handful of quarters accompany me. I’m going to the beach.

Traveling down the freeway, I sing along with the pop tunes. “Ain’t no mountain high enough…” I dedicate this one to Jesus and sing it real loud.

There’s plenty of parking at the beach. The summer crowds are gone. The sun is warm and the breeze is cool. I trek across the bright, clean sand to the ocean’s side.

“Hello God!” I call out across the ocean. A misty spray marks the beginning of our walk together.

We head along the water’s edge and toward the pier. I start to tell God everything; the good the bad and the ugly. He listens patiently.

We pass a man and woman holding hands. I thank God for my loving husband.

Kids are playing catch me if you can with the incoming waves. I thank God for family and friends.

A surfer glides along the crest of a wave. I thank God for the grace that propels us day by day.

A seagull soars with the wind. I thank God for the Spirit that draws me near to Him.

We take rest on a sand berm. The waves in front of us roar. I tell Him that sometimes I just can’t hear past the noise. A few minutes of silence go by, then I sense that it’s His turn to talk.

I look beyond the waves. The ocean seems to go on forever.

My love goes on forever, I hear Him say.

The deep green water looks so strong and immovable.

My love can move the immovable, I hear Him tell me.

I imagine all the things in the ocean that I can’t see. He reminds me that all is in His care.

We look out and look in. I feel, and sense, and wonder.

Catalina looks close enough to touch and I smile with His assurance and peace. “Lord, you are my rock and my strength!”

I thank Him for our walk together. “Oh, what a beautiful gift!”

contributed by Veronica Walsh, children’s book illustrator