"As the Clay" Explained...

I'm reading this book called "Why? Trusting God When You Don't Understand" by Anne Graham Lotz. There's a passage in the very first chapter that really struck me, and it explains exactly where I was coming from when I titled this blog "As the Clay" and wrote the little tag line to go with it. Here it is:

"The principle that suffering leads to glory is illustrated in Scripture by a vivid description of clay on the Potter's wheel - clay that was once cracked, shattered, and broken, clay that was totally useless and ugly. The Potter took the clay and broke it down even further, grinding it into dust, then moistening it with water before He put it on His wheel and began to remake it into a vessel pleasing to Himself. The cracks and chips and broken pieces disappeared as the clay became soft and pliable to the Potter's touch. He firmly applied pressure on some areas, touched lightly on other areas, added more clay to a specific spot that needed filling, and removed clay that hindered the shape that would make it useful for His ultimate purpose. As He turned the wheel, His loving gentle hands never left the clay as He molded and made it after His will.
Finally, the Potter finished remolding the clay and took it off the wheel. Under His skilled, gentle hands, the once-ugly clay had been transformed into a vessel that had shape and purpose. He added colour, carefully painting on a unique design. But the clay was still soft and weak, the colour dull and drab. So the Potter placed the vessel into the fiery kiln, carefully keeping His eye on it as He submitted it to the raging heat. At a time He alone determined was sufficient, the Potter withdrew the pot from the furnace. The blazing heat had radically transformed the clay into a vessel of strength and glorious multi-coloured beauty. Then the Potter put it in His showcase so that others might see the revelation of His glory in the work of His hands.
The spiritual principle is that in some way God uses suffering to transform ordinary, dust-clay people into vessels that are strong in faith, vessels that are fit for His use, vessels that display His glory to the watching world."