Lump of Clay

The past few months have been hard on us. Not only are we new to parenthood; we are also facing new decisions in our life. For almost 5 years we have had our own business. Each year we come across new challenges and find ourselves wondering what to do next. Our business is not producing enough income for both our business and personal responsibilities. I now find myself wondering why we are in this financial spot. I have prayed for God's mercy but I know that does not mean we will receive it. I pray that God will help us make decisions that will lead us down the path of obedience. I pray that God will take this lump of clay (our life) and make it what He sees. Praying that scares me because I do not know what is going to happen but I pray it because I want to love God with my life. Not love me more than God.

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:14-21)