On The Potter’s Wheel and Into the Fire

Almost five weeks ago, I had a mastectomy, and I’m in the middle of recovery right now.  I’m still in shock as things have happened so quickly this summer.  God told me and then showed me that I had a lump around the middle of May; scans and tests followed throughout the rest of May; lumpectomies the middle of June;  breast cancer diagnosis the following week; and a mastectomy the end of July.  So here we are now at the end of August, and I’m recovering from surgery with doctors’ appointments every week.  Not once in my life did I ever even consider that I might be afflicted with breast cancer – not ever!

This summer has certainly not turned out to be the summer we had planned for, and it’s certainly been a roller coaster ride of emotions.  I’ll be honest, it’s been difficult. OK, difficult is putting it mildly.   At times, I honestly didn’t feel that I could or would make it through this.  There were days when the anxiety and fear were so great that I had physiological symptoms – pounding heart, nervousness, and overwhelming sense of doom just to name a few.  There were nights when I didn’t think I would make it til morning.  But I did make it, all because my loving Father, His Son and my Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit carried me, gave me strength, loved me through it, gave me excellent doctors and medicine, and surrounded me with family and friends that loved and encouraged me.

I’ve learned a lot through this ongoing trial, but more than that, I know that I’m not the same person who went to bed that Friday night in May and heard the words, “You’ve got a lump in your breast.”   I’ve been on the potter’s wheel this summer as God has been recreating and transforming me more and more into the woman He designed and purposed for me to be before the foundation of the earth – that time when He first had thoughts of me. (Psalm 139:16-17, Ephesians 1:4-6)   ^{4 “}But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.” (Jeremiah 18: 1 – 6)  He has been reshaping me and changing me, “as it seemed best to Him.”  

Then through this trial, I definitely went into the refiner’s fire as the dross (something worthless or rubbish), has been burned out of me.  Malachi 3: 2 & 3 say, “For He is like a refiner’s fire, And like launderers’ soap.  ³ He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord, An offering in righteousness.”  As the hot flaming fires of this cancer diagnosis and surgery burned in my body, mind and heart, hidden sins and strongholds – sins and strongholds that I thought had been put to death previously – were exposed.  These strongholds such as uncertainty, fear, anxiety, doubt, worry, unbelief, and more were exposed. They were keeping me from truly trusting God and from being the woman He created me to be.  He’s so good as He gave me a wonderful example of His loving work in my life through this trial.

This past Christmas, I was introduced to sculptor, Jim Shore, through some friends’ Christmas mangers. I loved his creations and purchased a couple for myself.  When I saw a beautiful angel at a thrift store recently for $7.99 I picked her up.  I couldn’t believe that a Jim Shore piece was in a thrift store and that she was so cheap.  I was so excited and then my husband, Scott, pointed out to me that her hand was completely missing – completely broken off. My husband is an artist in his own right, and I asked him if he thought he could make her a new hand and he said yes.  So we brought her home and he pulled out his tools and clay, and he sculpted a new hand for her.  Then he baked it in the oven. She’s just as beautiful as before, but really more beautiful for me because my husband recreated her hand!  The potter, my husband, took her broken and marred body and as he worked on her, he made her more beautiful than before.  This piece is even more special because Scott took his time and made her complete.  This is exactly what our Father through Jesus Christ is doing.

Because we are still in the flesh and there is sin on this earth, we are all wounded, sick, and broken people in one way or another.  But our loving Father will not leave us in this condition.  He’s bringing us into wholeness, healing us, transforming us and bringing us into completion.  (Philippians 1:6)  Often, we end up on His potter’s wheel and then into the fire, where we are ” fired” which strengthens us and turns us into a usable vessel. It’s not fun, not what what we would choose, but He knows what’s best for us as we will be more beautiful, more healed, whole and complete after the trial.

I know that if you’re suffering right now, maybe you’re facing a cancer diagnosis, maybe even breast cancer or something else traumatic, maybe it’s an issue with a loved one and it really hurts and is really frightening.  May I encourage you that the God of the Universe is real, He’s alive and He loves you so much?  Would you right now, place yourself or your loved one in the hands of Jesus Christ?  Release and let go, enter into His presence and allow Him to work His good plan in your life.  We are so limited in our sight and perception of what He’s doing, but His word says that He’s working a good plan (Romans 8:28), a plan that’s so much better than any plan that we could ever design for ourselves.