You're the Potter...I'm the Clay

Going through pics tonight, and I came across these ones of Matt and Erica's wedding a few months ago. So fun!





Well, it's baby week 12. Can hardly believe it! :) In a way, these first trimester weeks are flying by, a blur of similar days. I wake up feeling great, attempt to get as much done before noon as I can, because I become pretty useless after that. But I've had a few really good days mixed in there, and twice this week I got dinner on the table. {Dave and I exchanged high fives, and then I collapsed to my nightly spot in bed, but still...an accomplishment} He has really held down the fort around here, in a way that I would never have imagined him capable of, back in our early years of marriage. Sweet, sweet Dave.

Despite the glimpses of second trimester I've experienced recently, my mind has been playing funny tricks on me. Swirling thoughts... Can I really do this? Remember what the last pregnancy was like? I feel so bad for being so sick all the time...how are my other 3 kiddos going to fare through all of this?? And for that matter, how am I ever going to manage 4 kids? Holy cow! It is all so very overwhelming to me. {for the record, Dave laughs when I get like this...}

In Bible study on Wednesday we were discussing Isaiah 44 and 45, and it was like the Lord bent down and answered me right there. Assured me of His plan....through a plan of His so many years ago.

The Lord was announcing that He was choosing a man who hadn't even been born yet, Cyrus, King of Persia, to release God's people from exile (which hadn't even started yet) and rebuild His city. Just one of many prophecies in the book of Isaiah. Cyrus was divinely set apart by God for a purpose, even though he was a Gentile and initially wouldn't even acknowledge the One True God.

What I found especially encouraging was God's gentle rebuke to His people. Maybe He knew how they would react to news of this prophecy, I don't know. But He says this to them in 45:9,

Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
those who are nothing but potsherds
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’?...

“This is what the LORD says—
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?
It is I who made the earth
and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.
I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:
I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
and set my exiles free...

It has been a gentle {or not so gentle} rebuke to me too.

This passage is quoted in the New Testament too, in Romans 9, in a discussion of God's sovereignty.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay?

I've read it many times over the course of my life, but the Lord used it Wednesday to remind me of my place...and to assure me of His plan. Despite how inadequate I may feel, He made me this way {morning sickness and all}, and He chose this job for me to do. And He is the One who chooses...not me. I cannot tell you how freeing it was for me to dwell on that.

Back to wedding pics...what an amazing weekend it was! We are truly so thankful for this girl the Lord brought into my brother's life.



My brother built the structure in the center of the room, at his bride's request. It turned out amazing, Matt!








I love this shot...









This sweet guy has served us all in so many ways these last few months. From making dinner after a long days of work, to running out for ice cream at all hours of the night. Cleaning toilets, and changing diapers...and pulling off a church family night here last weekend. Such a guy I married!