Wonderfully Made by the Master Potter

Wonderfully Made by the Master Potter

If you read any of my 6-part testimony that I posted earlier this month, you know that I suffer from an unknown neurological condition. If you did not read my testimony, let my quickly sum it up, or if interested, you can read about it in parts 4, 5, & 6 here: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2026/09/my-testimony-part-4-2014-2020.html  & https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2026/09/my-testimony-part-5-2020-2022.html & https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2026/09/my-testimony-part-6-2022-present-new.html (I actually did not mention some of this in the series that I am mentioning now).  Around 2018 I started experiencing hand tremors, leg jerks, and general weakness.  By 2019 my symptoms had multiplied to include balance issues, difficulty forming words, extreme fatigue that would last for days or weeks, numbness and tingling in various places in my body day and night, and the list goes on.  

One night I was praying, "Dear God, what it wrong with me?"  Whether it was truly God answering or not, I cannot 100% say, but I very clearly heard one word, "Palsy." I had been concerned about a brain tumor, but after at least 11 lesions were found in my brain, this one word was confirmed (I also had a dream I had where a doctor told me they found 11 lesions in my brain).  No, I do not have cerebral palsy, but I do have some type of undiagnosed palsy, which in very general terms means that one suffers from all-over weakness and/or an illness related to the brain.  

To quickly on the point of this blog, I had to quit a job I loved and went through a long series of medical tests.  However, 3 neurologists later, and I still do not have a diagnosis. The best I can get is that (and this is an actual quote from the first doctor who gave up on me), "You have a lot of weird things going on in your body, but I don't know what is causing it." 

In 2025 I was given a partial diagnosis from my primary doctor of severe facet joint disease in my spine and lumbar scoliosis, but I was told neither of those things explained all of my symptoms. I was also told I would not ever improve, but would probably get worse (you can read more on that from the poem I wrote called "No cure?" here: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2025/08/no-cure-why-write-poem-things-i-will.html )

I am not writing about all this again to gain sympathy as I am typically the type of person who keeps the negative sides of her life hidden, but I am sharing this again to hopefully encourage at least one person. 

Around two years ago, I was going through a particularly weak and painful time.  I struggled to do the simplest of tasks, and, in spite of our financial strains, I knew I could not go back to work at any job that was physically demanding. I had been (and still am) applying to and being granted an occasional interview for desk job that I feel I can physically do.  However, the longer I am out of work, and the older I get (I turned 54 this month), the more impossible it becomes to get a job.  After yet another job rejection, I went through one of those "I feel like a pointless failure" phases.  I know we have ALL been there.  

I really, really dislike dwelling in self-pity, but at that time, I was having difficulty pulling myself out.  I was not allowing the Holy Spirit to comfort me.  Writing has always been therapeutic for me, and I felt like I should write about it. So, one afternoon, I sat down and wrote a short story about a teenager named Louisa who had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The story poured out of me in less than a week.  The short story is only thirty-two pages, but it was such a healing experience for me, that I am pretty sure God prompted me to write it. I won't bore you with the full plot, but very basically, Louisa initially struggles with feeling wonderfully made by God, but by the end of the book, she has learned that God can use anyone with any disability for His glory, and she is determined to use her disease to help inspire others to love and trust God.

(Psalm 139:14) I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: 

Therefore, that is what all this rambling blog has been about.  We all have limitations in this life, whether physically, mentally, financially, emotionally, or even spiritually.  But if we can allow our hearts to quit focusing so much on ourselves, God can use the weak things in our lives to bring Him glory and honor.  If He does not choose to heal physical or financial ailments, He will always heal our spiritual issues when we come to Him with a repentant heart that is willing to change. 

(2 Corinthians 12:9-10) And [God] said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness."  Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.    

I am reading through Isaiah in one of my Bible studies right now and it is what prompted me to share all this with you.  I realize this chapter has to do with the stubbornness of Israel's coldness toward God (in general), but I could relate to that stubborn pot in Isaiah 29 from an entirely different angle.  

(Isaiah 29:16) Shall the work [the potter's clay] say of Him that made it, "He made me not?" or shall the thing framed say of Him that framed it, "He had no understanding?"

When I complain about a body that refuses to cooperate with me, I am actually saying to God, "Do you not have any understanding in what I am going through?  Why did you make me so weak?" 

Then I turn to Isaiah 64.    

(Isaiah 64:8) But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our Potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Just as Isaiah repented to God in this chapter, I too am filled with a repentant heart.  I submit my entire will to my Almighty Creator who has made me and formed me on His potter's wheel.  I return again to the above verse in 2 Corinthians 12.  Before verses 9-10 listed, Paul mentions that he had a thorn in his flesh that He had thrice asked God to remove.  While we do not know for certain what that thorn was, perhaps persecution or a physical ailment, we do know that God told Paul just to trust that God would help Paul through his struggles. Just knowing Jesus is holding me in His strong and capable hands makes life so much more bearable than trying to get through my struggles alone!

Yes, God absolutely can heal, and we should never quit asking and trusting for miracles.  But in the meantime, I pray I am like Paul and Isaiah (and many other heroes of the faith), and I will humbly be willing to be used for God no matter what I am going through. I know I will still have days when my spiritual struggles will almost match my physical ones, and on those days, I will refuse to give in to negativity.  I will say, "Praise God, I am wonderfully made by the Master Potter!" 

(For more on Isaiah 64, from, a different viewpoint, if you are interested you can read more on it here: https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2026/07/isaiah-648-clay-for-potters-hand.html