Real Hope: Earthen VesselsSample
Healing That Heals Others
In Jeremiah 29:11–14, God said very encouraging words through the prophet to His people who were in captivity because they had been disobedient to His commands. God has faith in you that you will fulfil your destiny and accomplish that for which God created you. You may have made many mistakes and detoured away from God’s will, but He will bring you back even though you may be battered and broken through disobedience.
That may not be your experience. You may have been broken and disillusioned while doing God’s will by being let down by your colleagues who maybe turned against you. They may have spread unfounded rumours about you that ruined your reputation, and nothing you could say at that time, in your defence, was believed.
FORGIVE THEM and put them in God’s hands. Do that, and He will deal with them and vindicate you. It may take time but use that time to prepare yourself for an immensely fruitful ministry ahead. You will find so many hurt and broken people seeking you to discover how you managed to bounce back and be more fruitful than in the past.
An old poem adequately describes this: ‘Stay still in the hands of the Potter. Lie low ’neath His wonderful touch; He shapeth and moldeth in mercy, the clay that He loveth so much. Surrender yourself to His working, the curve in the hollow He wills. Nor shrink from the pain and the pressure, for the vessel He fashions, He fills.’
God will pour out the healing with which you are filled to heal many others.
Written by DAVID SMETHURST
Scripture
About this Plan
We all have flaws. Not a single one of us is perfect, and many of us have cracks and breaks that are evidence of seasons of wilderness, loss, grief, and confusion. But despite these cracks and flaws, God, in His love, puts us back together in His only perfect way and uses us to continue to bring Him glory and share experiences of His love with those around us. As you navigate this plan, may you be filled anew with comfort and hope that your flaws, cracks, and breaks have been made perfect through His sacrifice.
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