Bloom Blissfully: Marisa – Finding her life in Him through jars of clay

Hey Ladies,

It is testimony time! Today, as part of the Bloom Blissfully series, we are sharing the first of four testimonies.

I want to introduce you to Marisa. She is extraordinary and such an elegant, beautiful woman of God. She is driven in all that she does and walks in peace daily. Marisa shares how she got to be vulnerable in front of our Heavenly Father, the Alpha, and Omega :

2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

It is not commonplace to boast about your weaknesses and shortcomings. One does not often hear someone speak gladly about their failures. Few would care to mention them, and most would avoid the topic altogether. Admitting to someone that you failed an exam or that you need to repeat a subject, that you didn’t get your driver's license on the first try or that your relationship has failed, requires a whole lotta trust. That someone needs to be someone you know won't embarrass, condemn, patronize, or belittle you.

But who can we trust to that extent that we are not afraid to admit our failures to them? Someone who has shown us grace and acceptance, someone who must truly love us.

1 Corinthians 13:5 “Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

But even our dearest loved ones fall short of this kind of love and these failures and weaknesses, though validly so, are mere blunders when we compare them to the failures and weaknesses of our heart.

“How glorious the splendor of a human heart that knows that it is loved.”- Brennan Manning

Oh, how fragile the human heart. We are riddled with mistakes and we do our very best to try and hide them. We create a facade and we withdraw just in time so that others don’t see our true weaknesses. And in the withdrawal and hiding, we find ourselves alone in the dark, locked rooms of our heart. Unlocking the strongholds in our hearts would mean risking to be found out. It would surely mean that others would turn away if they see the disgrace we keep hidden, and what we fear most would manifest itself: rejection.

And when it comes to praying and standing before the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Alpha, and Omega, the Most High: do we really show ourselves and stand in naked vulnerability before God?

How could we? If He knew what we really are, what we really think, and how we really feel, surely, He would not be pleased, and we would not spend eternity with Him. So, we try to keep face before the Lord, we pray beautiful prayers, we tell Him we trust Him, we post bible verses on our social media stories, we tell others we are “too blessed to be stressed” and “God is always good” without really believing it ourselves.

I’m smiling at this thought; that we believe we can hide our hearts from the One who created it. We are like Jonah running away from God Almighty, hiding away from Love and Acceptance Himself. Oh, the gracious amounts of patience the Lord must have for us!

The more I read His word, the more I realize how truly inadequate I am. The faith and obedience of Paul, Moses, Ester, Mary and all the other men and women of God, seem far beyond my capacity and capabilities. Not to mention the ultimate goal to become like Jesus which sounds, quite frankly, ridiculous. We fail the commandments more often than we would like to mention and fall short of Jesus’ teachings and instructions all the time. How can we ever be worthy of God’s grace and the Kingdom of Heaven?

2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not forsaken; struck down, but not dismayed; always carrying in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also manifest in our bodies.”

Jesus. His blood has washed us white. White, as the snow. When God Almighty looks upon us on the day of judgment in the Highest Court, He will not see any flaw, no stain of disgrace or scoff of dirt will be found on our robes, no bruise or imperfection, only pure and radiant white. And Jesus will be standing next to us, saying to His Father, “I am well pleased with this one.”

Jesus is the only One worthy of God’s grace, love, and the Kingdom of Heaven. And He took my place on the cross, that I deserved and not Him. His blood has washed us white.

John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Is this not love great enough to confess your failures and weaknesses to?

God sees us. He sees our hearts and knows every uncomfortable part that we would rather hide. He is gentle and does not force us to open our hearts to Him. He asks us to allow Him in. Not just into the quaint living and dining area, but the rooms we keep locked and dare not go in ourselves. But if we can learn to trust Him, oh, how wonderful His love truly is!

Jesus specializes in spring-cleaning at its finest. He draws back the curtains and lets His light flood the cold, dark room. He dusts off our insecurities and throws out all the shame and disgrace. He rearranges our thoughts to align with His. He scrubs the floors and the walls to rid of the molds of bitterness and hate. He cleans the windows so that our sight would be clear and pure. And finally, He arranges bouquets of flowers He picked in our garden, where the Holy Spirit has planted good seeds and helped us grow and sets them in jars of clay.

“You take our failure

You take our weakness

You set Your treasure

In jars of clay” - Hillsong Worship, Broken Vessels

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7 of our bodies as being jars of clay: fragile and impermanent. Each of us is a jar of clay. In Hillsong Worship’s song Broken vessels, the ‘broken and scattered pieces’ are ‘gathered in mercy’ and made ‘whole’. And in this ‘mended’ clay jar, God sets His treasures.

We are made a vessel to hold God’s power and glory, to show that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

The bloomed flowers in the jar are wonderfully beautiful and their sweet fragrance invites others into the splendid room where soft, warm light filters in. Their petals do not wilt or fade because they drink from the sweetest, living water. They will forever bloom blissfully.