Savage2Saint Sobriety July 7, 2024

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves."

- 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT).

Brokenness, letdown, abused, feelings of worthlessness, no one to turn to, nowhere to run.

These are all emotions and experiences that I believe most people have felt at one time in their lives. At least once. I know I have on numerous occasions. I felt like I was the only one experiencing sadness and loneliness. I felt like nobody could relate to me. Often, you hear people say, "you don’t know what I’ve been through," or, "you don't know how I’ve had to fight to get to where I’m at.” I may not know your exact story or the situation you had to claw your way through, but I can relate to the feelings and emotions you went through. None of us was promised an easy life. All of us have had our uphill climb. We knew we were going to have to battle.

The Bible describes us as clay vessels or jars of clay. At the beginning of my life, I was this perfect vessel with no scratches, no cracks, no chips broken off. As I grew older and I started facing my own battles, I came face-to-face with the hurts and pains of this world. I got to know anxiety and depression on a first name basis. Fear and doubt became my sidekicks. It wasn’t long before pieces of me started chipping away. I became broken. Life started to tear me down.

Every time someone would hurt me emotionally, another crack would appear. Every time somebody lied to me, another piece would fall. When I was physically abused, another piece would crumble to the floor. Broken and shattered pieces were all I had left of myself. I thought the drugs were helping, but they were only destroying me further.

I began praying, "Oh, God, help me! I don’t want to feel like this anymore. I’m not happy. I’m tired of hurting. I’m tired of being broken."

He answered my prayer by putting all of my broken pieces back together one by one. He is truly the Potter, and we are the clay. I absolutely love 2 Corinthians 4:7, "We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." (NLT). This verse describes exactly how I felt, like a fragile clay jar, and it explains why we go through the hard times we do!

You see, He took all my shattered pieces, and went to work on me. He didn’t make the same vessel that I started with. Instead, He left all the cracks and a few little holes, then placed His Light in the middle of my vessel. Do you know why he left the cracks and the little holes? It’s so His love could shine through me, and others would see it. So those that are broken, those that are hurting, and those with feelings of worthlessness can find inspiration through my testimony. If He did it for me, then He will do it for you. Give God all the pieces and He WILL put you back together in a way that lets the world see His Light shine through you, too.