Your Keeper
| A testimony is a story that proves the existence of something. As a follower of Jesus, your testimony is deeply personal and uniquely yours but, regardless of how you came to know Him, your story, my story, is a resounding testament to the Father’s saving gift of grace —the unmerited favor and love of God that our efforts could never earn, nor our actions revoke. This summer, I am taking a pottery class—an old hobby I started in college but haven’t kept up with since. One of the most crucial steps is centering the clay on the wheel. If you have any experience with this, you know how challenging it can be. You apply pressure with your hands to the clay as it spins, keeping your position steady as you feel the resistance of the clay pushing back until it becomes perfectly centered. It is an awkward, wobbly, messy, and difficult process, but nothing good will form if this step isn’t executed. Once the clay is centered on the wheel, it spins evenly but your hands are to remain steady, gently keeping the clay in its place before transforming it into something more… The potter and clay metaphor for the Christian life is one of the most beautiful pictures of God’s grace. The Lord’s steady hands centering, keeping, holding you, amidst resistance and struggles, all while transforming your life into a usable vessel. I used to think my testimony was boring because there was no dramatic, Damascus road conversion but as I’ve grown in my faith I see that my testimony is evidence of the staying power of God’s grace and there are imprints of the many ways His knowing, gentle hands have kept me. One of the most powerful and comforting names of God is Yahweh Shamar — The LORD Your Keeper. In Psalm 121, the psalmist uses the words keep or preserve 6 times in the passage to describe the Father…over and over…He keeps, helps, cares, preserves, protects, and guards our lives. Your story may involve some resistance, perhaps a lot of struggle, but all the while His grace stays. He is the potter who will never walk away from the wheel. He is the trusted keeper of your life, of your children’s lives, of your marriage, of all of it. May we yield to Him, in mailable submission—The LORD Your Keeper. “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” – Psalm 121:7-8 |
| I used to think my testimony was boring because there was no dramatic, Damascus road conversion but as I’ve grown in my faith I see that my testimony is evidence of the staying power of God’s grace and there are imprints of the many ways His knowing, gentle hands have kept me. One of the most powerful and comforting names of God is Yahweh Shamar — The LORD Your Keeper. In Psalm 121, the psalmist uses the words keep or preserve 6 times in the passage to describe the Father…over and over…He keeps, helps, cares, preserves, protects, and guards our lives. Your story may involve some resistance, perhaps a lot of struggle, but all the while His grace stays. He is the potter who will never walk away from the wheel. He is the trusted keeper of your life, of your children’s lives, of your marriage, of all of it. May we yield to Him, in mailable submission—The LORD Your Keeper. “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” – Psalm 121:7-8 |