“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9a

I never used to like being weak. To me, being weak always meant you couldn’t take care of yourself. It meant you had to admit you needed help. To be strong meant competency and reliability. But there is a sense of competency that comes as a believer, when you practice your reliability on the One that can provide for every need that you have. As I have been through so many life lessons and matured more in my faith, I have begun to understand that weakness is for my benefit. When I am weak it causes me to seek out my God, a rock and a refuge, who holds me up with His mighty right hand and protects me under His wing. When I am weary I can rest and trust in Him.

God was more concerned with Paul’s integrity and that he didn’t brag about his own knowledge, but that he would brag all the more about his weaknesses and frailty, his sufferings, so that Christ could be known through Paul’s weaknesses. And that is exactly where He wants me to be, too. The areas in my life where I have been weak and will still be weak; the hardships that I suffer, or insults for what I believe in, those are the areas in my life that God wants to glorify Himself through for others to see.

What a comforting thought: behind every suffering, every weakness, every difficulty, is an opportunity for you to shine for Christ. Paul even said he delights in these… that may seem a bit tough to swallow, but as I start to see the big picture in this and in my own life, I tend to not hold onto the grumbling so much anymore when these trials come. Instead, I am learning to embrace them (mind you they are not delightful yet, but one day…); I am catching glimpses of this power being made perfect in me through these times of weaknesses. Such a testimony we can be, one to another. Allow your weaknesses and watch His grace work mightily in you!

“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”