Can we speak of God’s power only after we’ve been healed or after we survive the struggle we find ourselves in?  Why are testimonies of how awesome God is typically announced after the fact?  Is there not testimony of His saving grace in the midst of my crumbling?  Can I only proclaim His goodness in the absence of disease?  Doesn’t He speak of who He IS in the agony of my brokenness?  Is He less when I am less?  NO.  He is my ALL in ALL.  I have to stand on the solid rock of Jesus.  He is my Sustainer and Redeemer in my weakness.  He knows what it is like to be broken.  He alone understands why I can’t stand up.  I know nothing, save His power.  Maybe that is how I glorify Him:  recognizing I need nothings else, not even my health.

– Valerie (last name unknown), suffering from ongoing, debilitating physical pain

 

My Less Than

never diminishes

Your Greater Than

 

My weakness

and failures

and instability

 

Do not reflect You

 

In fact,

Your power is made

Perfect

in my weakness

 

I realize how much I need You

in these less than places

 

And that is where I need to be

 

Dependent on my

Greater Than God

 

– Susie Stewart

 

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.

– C.S. Lewis

 

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

– 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (MSG)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart