You Handle It

(Photo cred: Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash)

I just can’t.  Just cannot handle it any more. (And my “it” changes frequently.)

I have recently found myself questioning all the things. Why these circumstances?  What did I do to cause this behavior?  Will things ever change?

What HAS changed?  My desire for a different perspective and a shifting of my priorities during the pandemic…a gift really.  I’m working on becoming who God has called me to be. And yet I still find myself wrapped up in the worries of this world. 

As I was running around my block tonight, I took my recent hurt and confusion to God:

God, release my bitterness. Help me not to focus on the circumstances.  God, I don’t want to hold on to these feelings. You handle it. I just can’t. 

Handle. This word has come up twice this week. Two days ago, I was having coffee with my dear friend Ann. We sat around the table, and we laid “it” out. We named our concerns. We spoke honestly. Ann recalled scripture as we lifted one another up. And we prayed. And as Ann was praying over my heart and my life, she prayed over the broken pieces. She prayed that God would take from the dust what is His and form a masterpiece in my life, one that is molded and shaped by Him. And she prayed that when the pottery was once again broken, He would restore it yet again with even more beauty. 

As she prayed, I visualized this pottery which represents my life. And I saw a handle. A handle for God to hold tightly to His creation. He not only molds me, He holds me. His handle keeps me connected to Him. 

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

~Psalm 139:14

Where we see brokenness, He sees beautiful opportunity. God pours His Spirit, the Water of Life, into our vessels. And it is through the cracks and holes where His Water seeps out. We aren’t alone in our brokenness. The circumstances, the people, the words that put cracks in our jars of life….are the very cracks in another’s jar. It is when we allow God’s goodness to seep through our lives, His mercy to drip from the cracks, that His story becomes our story. It’s a story that resonates with all people. 

Don’t hide those cracks. Don’t let the pieces remain broken. Put your life in the Potter’s Hands, and when you can’t handle “it,” He most certainly will. 

In Him,

Ashley

“This is the day the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”