Forgiveness. It seems too easy and so simple. Someone wrongs us, we get bitter and angry, and only forgiveness can release us from those shackles. Often times we want those people who have wronged us to come to us and ask for forgiveness. But, God does things differently. He forgave us before we ever asked Him to! Sometimes we forget just how much God has truly forgiven us for!

Are you harboring bitterness toward someone? Do you need to extend forgiveness to them? If it was a big enough priority for God, it should be for us too!

Imagine for a moment a master potter, working at his wheel. He takes a lump of dry, boring clay, places it on his wheel, wets his hands, and begins to mold and shape it to his purpose. The clay, in the hands of the master potter, begins to transform and take shape. The potter applies pressure, removes impurities and imperfections, and shapes that useless lump of clay into a beautiful vessel for his purpose according to his plan.

Now consider that you are that useless, ugly, lump of boring clay. God is the Master Potter who is still transforming you and molding you into what He would have you be. Without the pressure, you can not be transformed. Without the Potter's knife, cutting out those imperfections and impurities, you can never be shaped the way He desires. He works slowly and deliberately, applying pressure here and there, shaping you. Maybe sometimes He takes the knife and cuts out those impurities and imperfections. Maybe He has to kind of "start over" and begin from scratch. But He never casts you aside. He's always working you into His purpose and plan.

Are you allowing yourself to be molded by the Master Potter? Or are you resisting Him, hardening yourself to His hands? Once a vessel has been hardened and cured, it can not be repaired. It must be broken. No amount of glue will make it better. A potter cannot do anything for a hardened, broken vessel.

But the Master Potter can! He can take those broken pieces and make it whole again!

Pastor Jared Shumate opened his heart to us tonight and shared his experience of what our Pastor search was like for him. We saw the process from our side. We know much of what those seven months were like. We saw what transpired from our side. We saw the way God worked through many twists and turns, broken hearts, confusion, and unexpected situations along the way. But what was it like from Pastor Jared's perspective?

Tonight he showed us his experiences from the last seven months. We already knew that God is so good! We already know the ending of the story! We already know the miracle that God worked!

But tonight we got to experience it all over again, from a completely different perspective.