Today I was able to experience something I’ve wanted to experience for quite a while. A couple of weeks ago Mom and I went to a Christmas craft show where a friend of mine was selling her pottery and jewelry. She is the Real Deal as she makes her bowls and pottery from clay on her potters wheel. I’ve always wanted to try it to see what it’s like.

Years ago I made Christmas ornaments with an American Sign Language (ASL) “I love you” cookie cutter. About 31 years ago I worked as a teachers assistant at a preschool for deaf children. Making the “I love you” ornaments was one of the crafts we did. Back then we made the clay from flour, salt and water. The dough always got stuck in the fingers of the cookie cutter. About 15 years ago I decided to make a bunch of the “I love you” ASL ornaments. Honestly it was rather hard and I never tried it again. I was telling my friend Amy about these ornaments and asked if she’d help me make some with clay. Today was the day when I went over and she showed me some tricks of the trade. I wasn’t sure how I’d do since my vision is worse than it was years ago. She patiently showed me how to use the tools and I brought my cookie cutters with me. I was able to do it and it was so much fun. I wanted to put my great niece and great nephews names on four of them and she did that part for me. I will go another day to paint them.

After finishing the ornaments, I asked her about the potters wheel and she let me give it a try. Wow that is some work of art!!! It gave me a new appreciation for the work she does. She explained that the clay had to be centered and it felt a certain way when it was. It’s hard to explain and I couldn’t get it centered. She did it quickly and showed me how to make a bowl. I asked if I was doing it right and she said ”No”, but it was my creation so I could make whatever. It was a fun experience.

When I think of a Potters Wheel, I honestly think of God creating us. Take a moment to grab your Bible and look at the first eleven verses of Jeremiah chapter 18. God tells Jeremiah to go down to a potters shop and watch the potter work at the wheel shaping a jar. Look at verse 4: “But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.” Jeremiah‬ ‭18‬:‭4‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) Today I got to experience this. As Amy was demonstrating how to make a bowl, then let me try it, mine didn’t turn out so well. She said it would break when it dried, so I asked her if I should start it over and she said “yes”. I crushed it back down and started again.

It is so incredible to experience things that symbolize God’s power to shape and mold us as His creation. He has the power to define, shape and use us for His pleasure and glory. I can honestly say I really enjoyed the experience and can only imagine the satisfaction Amy must feel when her creations turn out as she desires.

I’m not a Bucket list kind of person. I mean, I don’t actually have a “list” but there are some things I’d like to one day try and today’s experience was one of them. I have such awe of God and His artistic abilities. He is the Master Potter, the Master painter, and every other creative title you can imagine. It literally blows my mind to just think of every thing God has taken such delight in designing and making for His pleasure.

That clay can be really touch. Amy showed me how to get the air bubbles out. Pressing and adding pressure, turning it over and over. It’s kind of hard to describe. Just think of how God has to take us through times of pressure and difficulty to “get the bubbles out” The clay has to be molded just right. When doing the ornaments, she showed me how to put the clay through a presser (I don’t know what it’s called) to flatten it out just right and at the correct thickness before I could cut it. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been through God’s Presser multiple times to get me to the right “thickness” before shaping me with the cookie cutter of His choice. That’s the beauty of creating something.

We are God’s creation. I’ve often struggled with the question of. “Why did you make me this way?” Having both hearing and visual difficulties due to having nerves that don’t work as they should. On top of that, passing it along to my son. I t has been one of the pressing / cutting things in life. Here’s where the BUT GOD comes in. Psalms 139: 13‬-‭14‬ says, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”(NLT) It’s not too fun to be so unique but who am I to tell my Creator how to make me? I get put through a Presser of challenging situations quite often. I’m learning to see them before they come and say a prayer, “God this is the part I don’t like and I’m going to need Your help to shine through this for You glory.” I hope in some way He is glorified through my attempts.

Tomorrow will be another one of those Pressers. Tomorrow I will go to my friend Tami’s house and help with the cooking for RiceNBeans ministry for our homeless friends in Rock Hill. The cooking is fun and we talk and catch up. When it’s time to head to Rock Hill, I am out of my comfort zone. Sure I can serve up a meal but when it comes to communicating with the people I feel so inadequate. I smile and ask all I see if they would like a meal. We have been doing this since around March and many of them know I can’t hear or see really well. I can only hope and pray it encourages them to press through the situations that have them on the streets or living in shelters. Pray that being a Light for Jesus will direct them to the SOURCE of that light, which is Jesus Himself.

Sorry so long and so deep. God touches my heart through life experiences and I wanted to share with you this neat experience today. If you’d like to read my testimony you can find my autobiography Rooted by the Water on Amazon. (Hard cover, soft cover and ebook formats.) All for the glory of God.
Www.shannonkhinson.com