We Are Weak

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

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 in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (ESV)

Lately, I have been feeling very overwhelmed by everything that I have to do.  I feel like I am not capable of doing my ministry the best that it can be because I have too many things to do and my attention is so divided.  Some days I haven’t even had time to sit down and think through the lesson I’m going to teach at Summer Safari because I haven’t had time.  Then I go to Safari wondering what I’m going to say and if it will accomplish its purpose.  It’s not easy for me to do this because I am a person who always has a plan, and improvising is not something I enjoy.  However, it has been a week of growth because each day I have to go into it with the mindset that God’s got this and he can accomplish his will even through an ill-prepared me.

Paul also had a time like this where he was overwhelmed by a “thorn in his side,” as he called it, but God wasn’t relieving him of that issue when he asked for it to be gone.  That can be hard to handle sometimes, when you know God has the power to remove something, but he chooses not to and you’re not quite sure how this is a good thing.  Instead of focusing on the thorns in these circumstances, look at the hypothetical roses that are blooming among the thorns.  Look at how God is using you in all your incapabilities.