~Daily Devotion 13th~

Tea Cup ....

Love this story or not, you will not be able to have tea in a tea cup again without thinking of this.

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups. Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful.

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My Master took me and rolled me pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that." "I don't like it!" "Let me alone."

But He only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet!"

Then WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!" I screamed.

But the Master only nodded and said quietly, 'Not yet.'

He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit Himself and then He put me in the oven.

I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read His lips as He shook His head from side to side, 'Not yet'.

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought.

But, after I cooled He picked me up and brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Oh, please, Stop it, Stop', I cried.

He only shook His head and said. 'Not yet!'.

Then suddenly He put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and He took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering "What's He going to do to me next?"

An hour later He handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.'

And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful'!!!

Quietly He spoke, 'I want you to remember,' He said. 'I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you.'"

The moral of this story is: God knows what He's doing for each of us. He is the potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this ..

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Potter.

Today's devotion consist of a series of beautiful pictures and special quotes. I am sure you have seen them before just as I have, but I feel they are worth looking at and reading again.

Before I add the pictures with quotes that was sent to me from a Dear Friend, I want to add a few Bible Verses on Wisdom.

I feel with all my heart and soul that Wisdom is a special gift that we must as the Bible says, "Seek."

After the Bible verses there are 25 special quotes that I feel are a message within themselves.

Please enjoy and be blessed.

Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. Psalm 51:6

For the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. James 1: 5

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. James 3: 17(NKJV)

Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4: 7

How much better it is to get skillful and godly Wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. Proverbs 16: 16

He who gains Wisdom loves his own life; he who keeps understanding shall prosper and find good. Proverbs 19: 8

Please contact Coffee With Pat to request a CD packet with a special message from Pastor Pat, or to book Pastor Pat for Dynamic Spirit Fill Revival, Women's Conventions or Crusades, in your church or area.

You will experience dynamic Holy Spirit lead messages or salvation, encouragement and healing from Pastor Pat.

Pastor Pat is an well known speaker and Ordained Minister, with the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, and a member of the North Carolina Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

She preached her first sermon at the age of ten and has been working for the Lord sharing the Gospel to the World ever since that time.

She is also known as the Internet Pastor for the world. Coffee With Pat has touched thousands of lives since the ministry began back in 1996.