Reshaping Life with Clay & Faith: Morgan McCarver's Story of Healing and Transformation

Because, well, that's just life.

Today I'm sitting down with Morgan McCarver, a woman who is the author of a book called God the Artist.

Morgan, she's an artist herself.

Matter of fact, she's a potter.

But that's not where she started.

And that that certainly wasn't her plan.

No, Morgan, she was a dancer and darn good at it.

Until, of course, life took her in a different direction.

You're gonna get to hear that story today.

Today is equally her story as well as God's story of his work in her life, his work molding her, shaping her into the beautiful piece of pottery that she is, while at the same time, she talks with us about her story and the story of her book, God the Artist.

How she takes us through the process of making a piece of pottery guided by the Bible.

This is an episode you don't want to miss, because this is a woman you have to do.

My friend, I welcome you to episode 270.

Let's divide.

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SPEAKER_01: I grew up in a Christian home.

My parents are Christian, and so I was kind of raised in and around the church growing up.

I gave my heart to Jesus and was baptized at about seven or eight years old.

And then from there, my faith was relatively just what my parents made it.

They would take me to kids' choir, so I went to kids' choir.

They'd take me to Sunday school, so I went to Sunday school.

But my faith really became my own when I was diagnosed with scoliosis, and then I ended up having to have scoliosis spinal fusion surgery when I was in eighth grade.

I was 14.

Oh wow.

That's really, yes, it was really a traumatic experience going from I was a dancer at the time, so a very athletic person doing very Bindy type physical activities.

And then all of that was really taken away from me when I had that scoliosis surgery.

And so that's really when my faith started to become my own.

And I was really praying not to have the surgery, but that's not the story that God gave me.

But through that, he enabled me to find my passion for pottery, and that has really kind of shaped the rest of my life.

I ended up going to school for it, and I have a degree in ceramics, and now I have my own business.

So, all of that, if I hadn't had that pivotal moment, what I thought was the worst part of my life, I never would have the best parts of my life now.

And I just attribute all of that to God.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, God does work in mysterious ways, that is for certain.

Yeah.

So so talk to me a little bit about dance.

What kind of dance did you do?

When did you get started on that?

Because I know, I know, I mean, you were really good at dance.

SPEAKER_01: Yes, it was really just a passion.

My mom, I I'm from South Carolina, and so like most Southern girls, their moms stick them in ballet classes when they're about three years old.

So that's that's really when I started doing dance when I was a toddler.

But I really fell in love with Irish step dancing, actually.

It's like really intricate footwork and high jumps and kicks, and you have two different types of shoes, some that are soft shoes, and then some that are harder that you're trying to make loud noises and different things with.

And so I started doing that competitively.

I started taking Irish step dance probably around the age of six.

And then pretty soon after that I was competing, and that was really my life.

I would take classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then on the weekends I would be at different competitions with my friends, and that was my life for years, honestly, through elementary school and middle school until I had that scoliosis surgery.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

I was not expecting to hear that was the kind of dance you did.

That I've never even heard of such a thing.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, it is its own niche in and of itself, but the dresses are so elaborate and they are very stiff the way they're kind of designed, because it is attributing back to Irish culture and their traditional dance form.

So to perform, you wear these elaborate curly-haired wigs and the really fancy bedazzled dresses and white high knee socks and black shoes.

It's a whole thing.

But yeah, it was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00: Almost like a cross between dance, but also a play in a sense of dressing up and and whatnot.

That's pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_01: It is a very elaborate costume, and it seems like you are judged just as much on your costume as you are on your footwork and techniques.

So uh yeah, it was always fun going to shows and seeing different people's dresses and things.

SPEAKER_00: Ah, amazing, amazing.

So you had mentioned that you ended up having scoliosis.

How was that discovered?

SPEAKER_01: My mom's sister actually had it, and they found her.

She was diagnosed when she was a lot younger than when they caught mine.

And hers had just gotten more severe at that case.

And for those who aren't familiar, basically scoliosis is a genetic type of disorder, but it really shows up when you hit a growth spurt.

So for me, it was kind of that last growth spurt before high school.

My spine was supposed to grow straight, and instead of growing like everybody else's, it grew from side to side.

And so I had three different curves creating what they call an S curve in my back.

And not only that, but my spine was actually rotating as well.

So my lungs were affected, my organs were affected, and I couldn't take a full breath of air.

So all of these things they caught that when I was in fifth grade, my mom just kind of knew what to look for.

And so thankfully she was able to find that.

And then moving forward, I was going to different doctors and wearing back braces to try to prevent the curve from getting worse.

SPEAKER_00: And did that not help the back braces?

SPEAKER_01: Not really.

We had multiple opinions about how often to wear the brace and what that looked like.

And I ended up going to Shriner's hospitals for children in Greenville, South Carolina.

And so I wore the brace for about three years, but every couple of months I'd be going back for x-ray kind of checkups, and they were just monitoring my curves.

And the idea was that the back brace would hold my spine at where it was, maybe correct it, but at least hold it in place until I had stopped growing.

Because the more I was growing, of course, the more my spine was twisting.

And so they were really trying to just get me through that growth spirit.

And then when I stopped growing, I would just live with my scoliosis.

But that really wasn't the case.

It just kept progressing, and the back brace wasn't really doing what it needed to to hold it.

And so they realized that as I got older through my adult life, this was only going to be more of an issue, and my spine was only going to contort more and more as I got older.

SPEAKER_00: Now, during this whole time of wearing the back brace, were you still dancing or no?

SPEAKER_01: I was.

And there were different rules during different times when I was wearing the back brace.

Sometimes I only had to wear it at home.

Sometimes I only had to wear it when I went to bed.

But thankfully, I never had to wear it when I was dancing or performing.

So that really didn't come into play there.

And I also didn't have to wear it at school, which was really nice.

SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.

So ultimately you had to have surgery.

Take me back to that whole doctor's appointment and how that whole realization of having to have this surgery was on you.

SPEAKER_01: I don't think I ever really realized that something so severe could potentially be where I ended up.

And so when that diagnosis did happen and the doctor told us that that was going surgery was going to have to happen, the surgery was scheduled for months out.

It wasn't like an immediate thing.

And so at that point, I just started praying and just begging God to heal me, to make it so I wouldn't have to have the surgery, because you hear of these amazing stories about how there's miraculous healing, and one day you have one diagnosis and then something happens and God has healed you in that moment, and you don't have to have whatever procedure, or you're healed.

Or so I was aware of these stories and aware of acquaintances, things like that that had happened.

So I was just praying that surgery was not in my story.

And I didn't really realize it at the time.

I think I was still too young of a Christian to really understand God's voice.

But looking back on it, I know it was God's voice saying, like, if you don't have the surgery, then your story won't be nearly as good.

Like you have to go through this surgery to get to the beauty of your testimony.

And I really didn't want to listen to that voice, of course.

And so for months and months, I was just praying that that wasn't going to be the outcome.

And I don't think it really hit me until pre-op a couple of days before that, you know, this is really happening and I can't get out of it.

The doctors are still saying surgery, the x-rays are not showing miraculous healing, and this is going to be what it is.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

I can understand your mindset so much of my own story.

For you, though, when you finally went into surgery, did you know that you wouldn't be able to dance after?

SPEAKER_01: I did.

They had told me, which also one thing about me is like I've thankfully gotten better, but especially back then, and medical type terminology just makes me faint.

And so they would tell me, they'd tell me enough of what I needed to know, but I didn't know too much about the actual procedure because it seemed like every time I was in a doctor's office, I'd just be passing out.

So yeah.

But yeah, I was aware that the recovery process was a year long, and in that year, I wouldn't be able to bend or twist or pick anything up that was over like six to ten pounds, depending on where I was in that year, and different things.

So I knew the recovery was going to be rough.

I don't think I was really prepared for the mental aspect of just everything, the surgery, the physical change, all of that was just such a mental, I guess, explosion is a good way to put it, that I wasn't really prepared that all of these things were going to affect me mentally as much as they did.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

So how old were you when you actually had the surgery?

SPEAKER_01: I was 14.

So I it was the last semester, it was January of my eighth grade year.

So that year-long recovery was the last semester of my middle school year and the first semester of my high school experience.

SPEAKER_00: Okay.

Wow.

So talk to me a little bit about recovery afterwards.

What did that look like?

What did life look like for you?

SPEAKER_01: For that year, for most of the year, it meant carrying a pillow everywhere I went because chairs were not compatible.

Now my back is just completely fused with two titanium rods and 18 screws.

So the curvature of my back does not necessarily fit your standard chair.

And unlike a normal human body, I can't conform my spine to that.

I still forever will just have zero movement or flexibility in my spine.

So for that time, it meant carrying a pillow so I could lean against something.

It meant I couldn't carry my textbooks because each textbook weighs six pounds.

So I had textbooks in all of my classes.

My teachers were really good about letting me leave textbooks in there.

It meant that I was out of school for several weeks and I was pretty much just doing school at home until I was able to go to school.

And then when I went to school, I couldn't sit at the desks that had the chair connected because that's twisting your back to get into the desk.

So then I was sitting at the teacher's desk and I couldn't open the heavy school doors, so a classmate would have to open the doors for me.

So that's what I talk about when I mention like the mental things.

It was all of this unwanted attention that I didn't know was going to need to be made for me.

And the accommodations, the teachers and students were incredibly kind, but still it's just that unwanted attention as a high school girl.

You know, body image is an issue anyway.

And so you throw on spinal fusion surgery, and everyone knows you've had it and you've been out for so long, and now your body doesn't look like everybody else's, and you can't even carry a textbook around.

So it was all of these things that were just kind of culminating at the same time.

unknown: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

It's a lot.

I mean, it it's it's a lot to have to go through at any age, but especially as as a teenager.

For you, when we when we are talking about your faith, it's easy for a lot of people when they go through a traumatic event, when prayers weren't answered.

You had to have the surgery.

A lot of people tend to turn away from God, but I gather that you did not.

SPEAKER_01: That I would say yes, but I don't know if I necessarily ran towards God either.

I think my faith just kind of stayed what it was, and it was that way for up to a decade after my surgery.

Just, you know, remembering that God is faithful, telling these truths to myself about God isn't focused on my outward appearance, God cares about my heart, you know, my physical body is not nearly as valuable to him as my soul is, and telling myself these truths, but not necessarily truly believing them and not really understanding why he gave me the journey and the experiences that I have until a decade after, because I didn't talk about my surgery for that 10 years.

I didn't want people to know.

Um, when I met new people, I just didn't bring it up.

I tried to hide it any way possible.

When I'd, you know, bend over, I'd tried to hide any kind of straight, flat back that I had, and which I can't really hide it, but there were things that I would try to do to not tell people and just fit in.

And then after that decade, really looking back, all through that 10 years, I had been pursuing pottery and focusing on my technique, getting my degree, gaining an experience.

And so after that decade, I kind of came out of this shell and looked back and was able to see that all of these things that I've been able to do, God gave me the story to be able to do them.

But I never would have had that first discovery and love of pottery if it hadn't come from or come out of that scoliosis experience.

So my faith actually, after that 10 years, it's just been so strong.

And now I'm really trying to catch up on all of those years that I missed telling everyone about my testimony because now I'm able, you know, I'm out of the thick of it.

I'm able to look back with clarity and see that this story could only have come from God.

You know, no one goes from a major spinal fusion to pottery because the clay is heavy, it weighs 50 pounds, and you have to bend your back over a pottery wheel.

So there's a lot of things in the studio that I have to make accommodations for myself.

It's not a natural transition, but it's the story that God's given me, and seeing that and seeing him work through that just makes me want to tell everybody about it.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so, so beautiful, so powerful.

Pottery.

How did that enter your life?

SPEAKER_01: It really came about when I was recovering during that summer break.

I didn't have my dance friend group because I couldn't go to dance during that time.

And I didn't have my school friend group because school was out.

And so my mom just signed me up for a pottery class, just get me out of the house, back into civilization, just a week-long kids' camp.

And that really was my pretty much my first academic introduction into pottery.

Um, I had played around with clay and play-doh growing up, but this was my first real kind of lesson in ceramics.

And I just loved it.

I loved the personal connection of directly touching the clay with your fingertips and manipulating it in that way.

And the clay was so flexible compared to my now rigid body that I wasn't able to be flexible and dance anymore.

But I could get so much movement and creativity out of the clay that I was just really drawn to that kind of relationship with an art medium.

And so from there, I just kept signing up for more classes and trying to get into the studio every chance I get or got.

And it was just amazing to see how I found a community there as well.

It was mostly retirees because they didn't really offer classes for teenagers.

So I was with people 30 plus years older than me, but they were just so kind and welcoming to let me come into their space and um work alongside of them and learn from them too.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amazing.

Oh my goodness.

So now, as you kind of developed your skill and and your talent for doing pottery, is there a particular style that you feel like you excelled in or you enjoyed more than another?

SPEAKER_01: I would definitely say that when I was starting out, hand building was what I was really drawn to, which is basically manipulating the clay with your hands, not necessarily using the pottery wheel, because the pottery wheel was a struggle for me just because of my physical limitations and my my back.

And then strength-wise, I had, you know, my muscles had atrophied because I hadn't used them like that, and I wasn't supposed to lift.

So there were elements of strength that I just couldn't perform on the wheel for a while.

So I really started out with hand building, and then from there, when I got to college, my work really progressed into slip casting.

So if you're familiar with like wedgewood pottery, it's kind of that style of just working with molds and different aspects of that.

I make a lot of plaster molds in my work and incorporating porcelain clay with like floral designs as well.

So it's interesting to see kind of how my work has progressed and it's becoming more and more dainty, if you will.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it.

I love it.

Now, so you mentioned that you actually went to college and got a degree in this?

SPEAKER_01: I did.

I went to Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina, the South Carolina School of the Arts, and it's one of the few places you can still major in ceramics specifically.

SPEAKER_00: Wow, amazing.

Now, when you were in college and you're going through getting your degree and stuff, what what kind of ideas did you have for after college as far as did you know right away, like I want to move to a certain city, open my own studio?

Like, what were your plans?

And how did those plans kind of align up to where you are today?

SPEAKER_01: Honestly, my plans did not align up to where I was.

SPEAKER_00: Welcome to life, yes.

SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.

It's amazing.

And I think it's one of the things that really kind of tuned me into oh, this is where God wants me, and recognizing, like I talked about recognizing that God has given me this story of the experience of pottery, like He has, because originally I applied to go to school to do art.

Education.

And before I even got there, a mentor convinced me to switch my major to ceramics.

And even in the ceramics program, as much as I loved it, I was telling people I was going to be an event planner and I was going to work in hospitality.

I graduated in 2019, so COVID hit a year later.

Hospitality obviously was not really what it could have been at that time.

So all of these different things kind of kept interfering with what I thought my best plans were.

Because of course, all during the four years, people were telling me, you can't do anything with a ceramics degree.

Why are you going to school for this?

Like, you know, why are you wasting time and money on this?

But I just knew that that was what I loved.

And my parents were really great about letting me pursue my passion.

But from that, I ended up going to work for a ceramic supply distributor, one of the largest in the nation.

I worked for them for about two years, doing customer service, help desk type questions, even to the point of teaching classes, private lessons and summer camps, things like that.

And then from there, like I mentioned, it was kind of in the throes of COVID, the thick of it.

And so I wanted to focus on my own work, get out of retail, so to speak.

And that's what actually brought me to Asheville, North Carolina to work for a potter in her studio as her studio assistant and really help her with her business.

But also at that time, I was kind of learning what it looks like to run your own business, your own pottery business.

How do you set up a booth for festivals?

How do you photograph your work appropriately to get into galleries?

So all of these other aspects that I hadn't learned in the retail setting, I was now learning in the personal business type setting.

And eventually, you know, that's I realized, oh, you know, I am pursuing this, but also the Lord has given me all of these opportunities to be able to pursue it because I've been trying to jump ship this whole time, you know, and the Lord's constantly bringing me back.

SPEAKER_00: So I love it.

Don't don't you sometimes feel like like God's just looking down on us?

It's like, oh Morgan, if you would just listen to me.

Like, you know, stop, stop trying to go your own way.

I'm trying to show you the way.

And, you know, and it's it's like it's truly like a parent, a father with their child.

And and as the child, we definitely don't feel like they know the best route.

And and we're gonna do it our way.

And then eventually we realize that they were right.

SPEAKER_01: Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, so I'm curious now, talking about when we we got into the pottery and stuff.

I I assume I'm kind of skipping forward a ways in the story, but where did the idea come to write a book?

SPEAKER_01: You're skipping ahead and behind at the same time.

It works out.

But basically, Anderson University is a Christian school, and so I had been hearing from my professors about all of these, you know, connections to how God made us, and he made us as creative beings, and we can use our talents for him.

So that had kind of been playing in the back of my mind for those four years.

And then when I was graduating, I was about to lose my community that I had had for four years, you know, all of us were about to leave.

And I was really looking for a devotion book that I could read about pottery and God because I know there's so many verses in the Bible about that.

And I couldn't really find what I was looking for.

So in 2019, when I graduated, I began just jotting down those verses and kind of taking notes.

And the Holy Spirit just kind of whispered, you know, like this is something you could maybe work on.

So of course I rushed ahead and I tried to get something published then.

And I'm so glad that manuscript got rejected because it was so rough.

And I had not had the experience of working for the ceramic supply distributor or working for the potter.

I had, you know, all the experience I had was degree from a university, which is a lot, but it's nothing like real-world experience either.

So I tried to get that manuscript published, it was rejected.

I felt the Holy Spirit telling me just to put it to the side until I had gotten more experience.

And I thought that meant decades down the line, it'd be like a memoir or something I would write as I was retired or something, sitting in a rocking chair.

And it really wasn't.

It was just a couple of years later, um, January of 2023, I had some extra time on my hands, and the Holy Spirit just reached back out saying that it was time to revisit that manuscript.

And so I did.

And also within that span of time, I had read through the Bible all the way.

It took me three years, but I had never done that before.

So I had all of the ceramics experience now, but I also had experience of reading all of these verses in the Bible about Pari that maybe I hadn't considered before.

And so at that point, January of 2023, I rewrote the manuscript.

It took about two and a half weeks, and I started trying to find publishers again.

And during that time, I was just praying, you know, Lord, I tried this once and it did not go how I wanted it to.

So if you, if this is your voice and you're really telling me to do this, then it's gotta be you who gets this published because I know nothing about publishing books.

I've already tried once and I couldn't do it by myself.

So if this is really coming from you, I completely give this project to you and it's gotta be all you.

And he really honored that and sent me one publisher who reached out, said that it wasn't a yes or no, but I needed to lengthen the book.

So I spent about a week and a half doing that, sent it back, and then a couple of weeks later I got that acceptance letter.

And it, I just know it's from the Lord.

It's just been such an amazing experience.

SPEAKER_00: Wow, wow, wow.

That is that is amazing.

That is absolutely incredible.

And now your book was actually officially published in January, correct?

SPEAKER_01: Yes, January 9th.

SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.

So, and your book is titled God the Artist?

SPEAKER_01: It is, yes.

God the Artist revealing God's creative side through poverty.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow, wow, wow.

So in the book, I'm assuming it has scripture.

And along with scripture, is it you just sharing a story of how it all ties together?

Does it have any of like your personal story involved?

Like kind of wanting to know a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01: Of course.

Basically, I say you don't have to be a Christian and you don't have to be a potter to read God the Artist.

I kind of go through both as we go along.

But I just start at the very beginning of pottery talking about clay.

What is clay?

What is it made out of?

How do you process it straight from the ground, the different types of clay, and how that relates to the human experience of how God has made us each specifically capable of doing very specific things.

But that doesn't mean we're good at everything.

For example, a stoneware clay is really great for bakeware, but it is not as good for the light dainty type pottery, similar to how porcelain is, it can be thrown really thin and almost translucent because of the particles it's made up of.

But similarly, it doesn't handle thermal shock well.

So if you put it in the oven, it might crack.

So in that way, I'm comparing and contrasting kind of the human experience to clay.

And then from there we dive deeper and deeper, going into the verses.

And my hope is that from my ceramics and Christian backgrounds, I'm able to interpret these verses to allow the reader to understand a deeper meaning, not just the surface level, but really unpacking these verses from understanding the techniques of pottery and kind of what that looks like.

So we go through the whole process of throwing the clay on the wheel, firing it, glazing it, and then at the end you go over the potter's house, which is probably the most famous part in the Bible about pottery.

So we do talk about that as well.

SPEAKER_00: What an awesome, awesome idea for a book.

That is so incredible.

Before we continue, for the person who's like, whoa, baby, this is awesome.

Where's the best place to find your book?

SPEAKER_01: Of course, pretty much it's published traditionally.

So anywhere books are sold, you can grab a hold of it.

But if you go to my website, www.morganmacar.com, I provide links there for places like Barnes and Noble, Target, all those good places to go ahead and order a copy.

SPEAKER_00: Okay, fantastic.

Well, I will be sure that links to that are left inside the show notes for anybody who is interested and uh wanting to get hold of your book.

That's incredible.

Another question I have for you is what is it like in in the I'm I'm talking about an industry, the art, like kind of like the artistic industry or you know, I'm calling it industry, but the art scene or whatever.

How is that for you being a Christian?

Like, do you find do you find a lot of people are Christian that you're around or or not?

And I just am kind of curious about that.

SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.

And I I love telling people about this because I grew up in upstate South Carolina, so the art scene wasn't terrible.

There were different, you know, grants or competitions, things to do, but there is a guild, but it's not like Asheville, North Carolina, which is known as like one of the art hubs of the South, so to speak.

And so moving to Asheville, for those who don't know, it's not really advertised as Christian.

So I was moving from a small Christian town to a larger touristy art town that is not Christian.

And what I was able to really see and discern, which just blew my mind, was the Christians in Asheville have to be stronger about their faith because there's so much pulling them away and there's so much temptation in the area.

So when I grew up around Christians, everyone went to church because nothing else was open on Sundays.

So everyone said they were a Christian.

I went to a Christian school, I went to a Christian college.

We really didn't talk about it that much because we all thought we were on the same page, which that should be the safest space to talk about it.

We should be sharing our faith and encouraging others and asking questions if we are in that space, but that was not my experience.

So moving to Asheville, I have a lot of friends who are not Christian, and but I also have a lot of friends who are, and they have really challenged me in my faith, and I've grown so much in my faith because I moved to this city by myself.

I didn't know anyone except for I had met my boss, the potter.

I had met her like once in person.

And so I moved up here not knowing the area, not knowing the safe parts of town, not knowing family members, friends, anyone really to live with.

And so my faith really grew on my own that way, but then also noticing what's around me.

And there's so many temptations, there's so many activities to do on a Sunday morning that you have to make a choice to go to church and you have to choose to share your faith and to really reveal to others that you're a Christian.

It really has challenged me in that way and has allowed me to witness to my friends who aren't Christian in a way that I didn't really get that opportunity when I was in South Carolina.

SPEAKER_00: That's it's very interesting.

It's very interesting the different areas, the different demographics.

And I mean, I think I must applaud you as a young woman in this vibrant city to stay true to your faith because uh it's not always the easiest thing to to do that when you have all of these temptations pulling you in other directions.

SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's completely God just giving me the grace to want to pursue him more, and there's nothing that I can do to make myself want to love him more.

It's him giving me that grace to want that.

SPEAKER_00: I love it.

I love it so much.

So what's on the horizon?

I mean, you just had your book published, but what's on the horizon if if you we we've we've obviously learned that well, you know, what the heck's the use of planning because God's got his own plans.

But um, but I mean, what it what is on the horizon for you with life, with pottery?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_01: I've immediate horizon.

I've got a solo exhibition coming up this spring, so I'm working towards that.

And then from there, I've done a residency in Blowing Rock for the past two summers, so I'm hoping to be invited back this summer.

So hopefully that's kind of in the works as well.

I'm working on some new designs and things, so hopefully I can kind of refresh my work for the upcoming festival season that starts in the fall.

But also I know it's not happening right now because of the way the world is, but it's a desire of mine to go to the Holy Land.

I would love to see all of the pottery.

I've just heard so much about the pottery of that area and seen pictures, I'd love to kind of see that in person.

So that's a little bit farther off on the horizon, but um definitely still a goal of mine.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love it.

I love it so much.

For anybody who finds themselves in Asheville, where can they is there a place that they can actually come, like a gallery to see your pottery?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm in several places around the Carolinas in Tennessee, and all that is on my website.

But I'm in the Asheville Art Museum, gift shop, and um the cottage collections in downtown Asheville.

I've even got some custom pieces in High Climate Chinese Tea Shop, which is a really cool restaurant, and they've had me do some pieces for them.

But basically, um I'm where am I in Tennessee?

I think it's it's such a long name.

It's like their heritage, Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, I think is what it's called.

And then I'm Okay.

And then I'm in some places in Spartanburg, like the Kindred Spirits, and um I'm in places in Asheville too, figs.

Anyway, so I'm kind of all over, but you can also shop my website or just message me on Instagram if you're looking for something specific.

I love to take custom orders too.

SPEAKER_00: Morgan, you are absolutely incredible.

I I love hearing your your faith journey.

I love hearing your life journey, and uh I love the fact that you were able to find something else to love.

The fact that, you know, you you had dance uh taken away from you.

And I I know that's not easy when it's out of your control to lose something that you love or but it's so amazing how you were able to adapt and you were able to find uses for other gifts that you never even knew you had.

I think I think your story is beautiful and such a beautiful just testament to the the plans of of Jesus.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.

It's been so great talking to you about it.

And like I said, I'm just making up for lost time now, trying to share my story so others can benefit and see God working in their lives as well.

SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.

Well, thank you so much.

And for you listening today, I hope you've enjoyed meeting Morgan as much as I have.

Such an amazing, amazing woman who I can only imagine what is to come in her life.

If you would like to get in touch with Morgan on Instagram for one of those custom orders or to learn about all the places you can find her art, please check out today's show notes where I will leave a link to all of her information for easy access.

My name is Kevin Flo, and this is Great Grace of Inspiration.

Get out there and enjoy the day.