Weakness is a Gift — Broken & Hopeful

I write and talk about weakness quite a lot, probably because I’m a fairly independent woman who doesn’t like to admit any lack. God is faithful to teach me a lot about it because I don’t want to learn! Generally, when I feel weak, I either try to cover it up and make it look fine, or I run away from whatever it is and decide I can’t do it. Interestingly enough, that is not what God asks us to do with weakness.

I am beginning to see that places of weakness or inability are actually gifts. I know, it sounds strange, right? But these places are where we most find and see the power of Jesus within. It’s sort of like a very thin spot in a piece of fabric—it has been worn to more fully show what is beneath it. I generally throw away clothes that get that level of holes in them, but what God says is to invite Him to show through all the cracks and holes of our lives.

When I see the spots where my patience is wearing thin, or I have no compassion left for someone, or I am just too weary to handle one more burden, this is where I can most experience God’s power because I’m not trying to do something for Him. I have begun to anticipate these times with joy, because after I get done with pondering my self-help plan for making myself stronger, I can then instead turn to God spiritually and ask Him for help. He never turns me down! He’s been waiting this whole time for my request.

What’s the weak spot (or spots) in your life? Is it a difficult marriage? Is it the absence of relationships and the constant presence of loneliness? Is it addiction? Is it a child that tests every last bit of your patience? Is it a health issue that leaves you unable to do what you want to to do? Is it a lack of purpose in your life? Is it seeing the dreams you had for your life lying around you in broken shards? Is it an image that you feel you must maintain as a protection from other people’s opinions of what’s really going on in your heart?

Whatever the place of weakness, it can be revealed to be instead a thin spot that becomes a portal for Christ’s power. We need only ask. Your life doesn’t need to look perfect for God to give you strength for weakness. In fact, it won’t look perfect. We are not intended to receive Jesus through salvation by accepting and nothing else, and then to turn around a try to get it all right in order to live the Christian life. The life we have in Christ is the source of everything, and we don’t have to do a dance or speak a certain word to have it! He is always ready, always available, always hoping that we will turn and ask Him to do it. 

I wonder what would happen in your life if every time you caught yourself saying something like, “I just can’t do it anymore” or “I can’t let anybody know about this scary part of me or my family” that you would instead redirect the thought to Jesus’ feet, leaving it there? I think you’d find that God never wanted you to be particularly strong, but rather dependent. He loves the relationship He has with you, and wants to be involved in every detail of your life. He waits to be invited, though.

Whenever you see a place of weakness in your life, will you turn away from self-criticism and self-righteousness to look to Jesus for the strength you need? If you do, the weakness becomes a gift, a portal to the power of God in your life. Weakness is the qualification, not the exception to qualifying.

But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you,  and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10