Our progressive sanctification is a charted path that will bring us into continual circumstances that He will use to conform us to His image. Verse 29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

Conformed. The word always makes me think of a wheel potter. The hard clay has to be mixed with water to soften it. Then the potter has to center the piece on the wheel before it can be shaped. Our trials are divinely orchestrated to center us on the Lord.

He is our Potter. Jeremiah 18:2 says, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house…” Verse 4 says, “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter…” Jesus understands marring. 

Isaiah 52:14 says, “…so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” Jesus bore our sins so that we could live with Him forever. Our trials that stop us in our tracks may mar us, but they will never destroy us. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.