The Potter

One night I attended an evangelism class at my church. The man speaking told story after story of how the Lord opened up opportunities to him to bring people to the Lord.

That was my heart at the time and I was thoroughly impressed by the stories he told, listening closely to each one so as to pick up hints on how to go about it. It was obvious to me why this was so successful – he was one of those teddy-bear, Santa-like, kind and loving and gentle types that win persons by their warm personalities. I thought to myself, “Aha! So that’s it! That’s the secret of winning people.”

After the evening was over I was SO motivated. I saw into this man’s message that what was so effective was his personality and I wanted to be like him. So I went home, went into my bedroom and closed the door so as to be alone with the Lord, and I approached him with what I “thought” I was going to say, which would have been, “Father, please make me like that man so I can draw people.” But I never got past the first word. I began, “Father…” and the Lord stopped me right there. I was only able to get the first word out, “Father…”

Then he spoke. He said, “Shall the clay say to the Potter ‘Why have you made me thus?’”

To say I was shocked is an understatement. In fact, for a moment I just stood there with my mouth open. Stunned. When I gathered my composure I answered the Lord, “You mean …you want me AS I AM???”

He didn’t have to say any more, he had made his point.

“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

I am not an Oprah type, I am not a Santa Claus type. Quite the opposite. I am quiet. And serious – absolutely serious, it’s just the way I’m wired. I can’t share life with most people because of the way my personality is shaped – my God-given personality, I have to remind myself. I have few friends, but the few I have are of the down-to-earth type, the ones who are serious about life and who walk with the Lord daily.

I didn’t see how this could work. I surely won’t attract people with my personality. Little did I know …God had already set me up to win souls for him, not by speaking to people but by writing. I had been writing for a long time by then, it’s just “what I do.” I had even created a blog, but it didn’t go anywhere. One morning around that same time, I was having my morning devotions and I was praying about this and I told the Lord that I had used every talent he had given me and even creating an online blog, but there was no feedback and I wondered if I should just give it up. What’s the use?

He spoke to me. He said, “use Facebook.”

Oh my goodness, talk about being in shock! I had taken a look at Facebook awhile back and saw that it was mostly sharing cute kitten stories and recipes, and “God bless you” pictures. I knew for sure that that certainly wasn’t anything that interested me and I had abandoned it. So imagine my jaw hanging down when the Lord himself told me to go onto Facebook!!! I could hardly believe it.

But …he had spoken …so I obeyed. I went onto Facebook. I had no idea how to operate it, it was all foreign to me. My daughter, though, had a Facebook account and she got me familiarized with it and in no time I was posting on Facebook every day. And the rest is history. Oh, there’s a lot more to this story but I’ll tell it another time, this is enough for now. Needless to say, God’s answer, which sounded to me like “throw the net on the other side” – worked!

I surrendered to his will and since that day have marvelled at what he has accomplished through one as lowly as I. Truly, TRULY, all praise and glory I most gladly and joyfully give to HIM.

This story continues in another encounter with the Lord as I continued to pray about reaching the lost for Christ. Facebook became an invaluable resource for reaching out, but I needed more. See, “My Loaves And Fish Story.”

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