Trusting God to Shape Your Story

Written by Betsy Sunny

Day 1: The Imprint of Memory

Take a moment to watch this short film, "Clay Has a Memory:"

There’s an old potter’s adage that says, “Clay has memory.” Press your thumb into a pliable mound of earth, and it will hold the indentation long after the surface is smoothed over. Beneath the glaze, beneath the finished shape, the clay still remembers where it was pressed, where it was pulled, where it was wounded.

Isn’t that how we are, too?

Our souls bear the imprints of moments long past. Words spoken in anger, love offered and withdrawn, joys that made us sing, betrayals that hollowed us out, all of it is pressed into us. We may smooth our faces and build sturdy lives, but underneath, there are grooves and impressions time has not erased.

Perhaps it feels like weakness to be so formed by what we’ve experienced. But what if it’s also what makes us most beautiful? What if the memory held within us is not simply scar tissue but a testimony that we have lived, that we have been molded by both pain and grace?

Scripture echoes this in Psalm 56:8 ESV:

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?”

Nothing we’ve carried has been lost on God. Each sorrow is known, each joy remembered.

When we come to God with our memories, we aren’t offering Him pristine, unmarked clay. We bring Him all the fingerprints, all the fractures, all the lines that tell our story. And in His hands, they are not flaws to be erased, but lines of narrative He weaves into something more whole than we could imagine.

Today, dare to notice the places you still carry the past. Rather than despising them, let them remind you of your tenderness, your capacity to be shaped, your willingness to keep living. Clay that refuses to be moved becomes like stone. Your softness is not your failure: it is your glory that can be used for God’s glory.

Reflection: Take three slow breaths. Imagine your life as soft clay: what thumbprints do you notice? Whisper to yourself: “Even this, God remembers and can use it to create a masterpiece.”