You know how we constantly hear, “His strength is made perfect in my weakness?”

Well … this is one of those moments where I’m walking that tight rope of:

I believe it and ……….. also me………Cussing and chocolate. That’s my weakness right now so how does this work? His strength being made perfect in my weakness? Because unless He’s got extra duty duct tape and super dark chocolate for my mouth at this very moment ….. I just don’t understand.

I’m joking. Except I’m not. I kind of am, but only half kidding.

I had a “moment” on Thursday (this past Thursday) that I had since forgotten. Okay, I haven’t forgotten about it or I wouldn’t be writing about it. Either way, without going into details, I flipped my lid. I was having the most raw, emotional moment. Ever. I felt that everything was coming down and I just dropped a curse word mid-sentence like that was the only way that I could show my sincerity or deep feelings of anguish. I’m a sinner. Remember that part? Well I didn’t feel any better after I said what I had and actually only felt worse. Then to make matters worse there was no chocolate in the house and that was pretty terrible. Right? Because seriously if cussing and chocolate isn’t going to stress to others how dire the situation is, then honestly – what will?

Exactly.

I was definitely having a moment of weakness. And I get really frustrated in mymomenst of weakness especially when I feel I have zero control over something! I just needed, I don’t know…needed something. Cussing didn’t help, chocolate wasn’t going to help, and gong to bed two hours didn’t help either, and that’s especially true given the fact that all I did was toss all night. Literally.

I had texted my girlfriend complaining about something that had happened that evening and I even mentioned that it was NO FAULT of anyone but that I must have been suffering from menopausal crankiness. Which it partially could’ve been but that’s not really important now.

I ended up getting up at 3 am like I normally do. God likes to nudge me awake between 2-3 am every morning, especially when I don’t make enough room for us to talk about things that we need to talk about. If I don’t/won’t find the time, He makes it for me. I get to encounter and experience His love during our 2 am bedtime, heart to hearts, in ways that I will forever miss if I don’t allow myself that time with Him.

Somehow everything falls back to this: me wanting to do things my own way. If I can just love what He loves and follow His will then I can be better prepared to face the giants but being my  human nature I tend to react first without taking that moment to pause and pray ….. and sometimes many of us will do that. We get so excited and worked up about things, especially the bad and the ugly, that we go straight to cussing and comfort strategies (chocolate, hobbies, sweat pants, netflix, sleep, showers, or whatever your “comfort food” or “guilty pleasure” might be).

1. says, “The power of Christ is made perfect in weakness”?
2. What is the source of such weaknesses? Do they come from Satan or from God? Or both?
3. What is the purpose of such weaknesses? Is there a goal or an aim for why the weaknesses come?

I ask these three questions not only because they are the ones answered in the text, but because knowing these things and being reminded of them in our hearts as God’s truth will give us the strength to live and endure and often even to thrive in the midst of many weaknesses.

1. Insults — when people think of clever ways of making your faith or your lifestyle or your words look stupid or weird or inconsistent. When we were giving out “Finding Your Field of Dreams” at the stadium, I heard one man say mockingly, “And the Lord said, Play ball.” And all his friends laughed.
2. Hardships — circumstances forced upon you, reversals of fortune against your will. This could refer to any situation where you feel trapped. You didn’t plan it or think it would be this way, but there you are, and it’s hard.
3. Persecutions — wounds or abuses or painful circumstances or acts of prejudice or exploitation from people because of your Christian faith or your Christian moral commitments. It’s when you are not treated fairly. You get a raw deal.
4. Calamities (or distresses or difficulties or troubles) — the idea is one of pressure or crushing or being weighed down; circumstances that tend to overcome you with stress and tension.kness for overeating. Paul is not talking about bad choices that we make. He is not saying the power of Christ is perfected in my bad choices. Or, I will all the more gladly boast of my bad choices. Weaknesses here are not imperfect behaviors.https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/christs-power-is-made-perfect-in-weakness

“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.”

2 Corinthians 12:9