Have you ever had those times when you find something you've been looking for for a while, and it ends up being in the most obvious place? Or perhaps you've been trying to figure something out, and the answer turns out to be exceedingly simple? I had one of those this morning. I was reading in 2 Corinthians 12, and got to verses 6-10, and I simply can't believe that I haven't studied them before. They're an absolute gold mine.
Of course I've heard them before, having grown up in the church - "in our weakness He is strong" is one of the flagship slogans of the church. But I've never really thought about it, especially in my present circumstances - it's just something that you say, right? Dead wrong.
When I don't know where I will be living tomorrow night - He is strong. When work is murder - He is strong. When I walking is painful because my back has pinched nerves from stress - He is strong. The point of this life is not to make towering accomplishments in our own strength. It's to depend on God and to show the world just what He can just - things that would make our "towering accomplishments" look like twig huts in the mud. When you think of it like that, it really puts all of our troubles into perspective, doesn't it? They're a whole lot easier to bear when we know that God will make beautiful victories out of them - if we let Him.
Of course I've heard them before, having grown up in the church - "in our weakness He is strong" is one of the flagship slogans of the church. But I've never really thought about it, especially in my present circumstances - it's just something that you say, right? Dead wrong.
When I don't know where I will be living tomorrow night - He is strong. When work is murder - He is strong. When I walking is painful because my back has pinched nerves from stress - He is strong. The point of this life is not to make towering accomplishments in our own strength. It's to depend on God and to show the world just what He can just - things that would make our "towering accomplishments" look like twig huts in the mud. When you think of it like that, it really puts all of our troubles into perspective, doesn't it? They're a whole lot easier to bear when we know that God will make beautiful victories out of them - if we let Him.
2 Corinthians 12:6-10
Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would
be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me
than is warranted by what I do or say, 7
or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order
to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in
hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I
am strong. 
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