{"id":26480,"date":"2015-06-26T00:25:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T04:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=26480"},"modified":"2015-06-25T22:00:11","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T02:00:11","slug":"a-beautiful-jar-of-clay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/26\/a-beautiful-jar-of-clay\/","title":{"rendered":"A Beautiful Jar of Clay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We now have this light shining in our hearts,
\nbut we ourselves\u00a0are like fragile clay jars
\ncontaining this great treasure.
\nThis makes it clear that our great power
\nis from God, not from ourselves.
\nWe are pressed on every side by troubles,
\nbut we are not crushed.
\nWe are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
\nWe are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.
\nWe get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
\nThrough suffering, our bodies continue
\nto share\u00a0in the death of Jesus
\nso that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
\n<\/span>2 Corinthians 4:7-11 NLT<\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

There is so much brokenness in this world. \u00a0Look at the headlines every day…Christians are being tortured daily; children are being taken from their mothers; there is hunger and poverty…and the list goes on. \u00a0I’m sure if you went anywhere today, you passed a wife that cries every night because her husband is leaving or a father who is working so hard yet not being able to provide. \u00a0I know hard…and I know the One Who mends the hearts of all these people. \u00a0It is Jesus<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

I went through a really trying time when my kids were younger. \u00a0It was a time that sometimes I wish I didn’t have to remember. \u00a0The memories sometimes are too much and I find myself wanting to erase them all. \u00a0But as messy as I see it, God sees it as a ministry that will give others hope and faith. \u00a0If I made it through and found joy and peace and restoration on the other side, then so can you.<\/p>\n

Read the verses above; a jar that has cracks and holes can allow light to enter in those places. \u00a0And, as His children, we are never crushed! \u00a0We will always be able to withstand because we have Him to hold us together. \u00a0If your story is not the one you would have written for yourself, then thank Him for it anyway. \u00a0Our God is good<\/strong> and all He gives is good<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0Your story may save someone else one day. \u00a0And God says if one person meets Jesus because of your story, then it was all worth it. \u00a0It may mean the difference between life and death for that person.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, more than ever, we need Him. \u00a0And reading and studying His Word will help you know Him more and know His true character. \u00a0I just want you to know that all hope is found in Jesus! \u00a0Do you know Him<\/em>? \u00a0Are you tired of running and hurting? \u00a0He wants to save you! \u00a0I ask you to pray this prayer with me:<\/p>\n

\n

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and I need a Savior. \u00a0I believe that Jesus is Your Son and that He died for my sins—all of them. \u00a0I want You to be Lord of my life. \u00a0In Jesus’ name, amen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves\u00a0are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[9083,9084,6998,425,5197,9075,589,1547],"class_list":["post-26480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-2-corinthians-47-11","tag-broken-to-beautiful","tag-encouragement-blog","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-his-word","tag-jars-of-clay","tag-kim-spring","tag-sinners-prayer","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6T6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26480"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26506,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26480\/revisions\/26506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}