Graceful

"But he said this to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of 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." ~2 Corinthians 12:9-10~ It's been a while since my last post. As usual, i've gotten caught up in my life, in myself, in MY friends, MY daily routine. And to be perfectly honest, i'm pretty sick of me. I suppose my friends are too. Sometimes things work out in just such a way that you remember how gargantuan the universe is, and how miniscule you are... When Neil Armstrong was making his way back from the Moon, he said, "I put up my thumb and it blotted out planet Earth." I tend to forget how small and unimportant I am. We all do sometimes, I think. It's a wonderful thing how significant events can change your perspective. A very unique and special person that I had the pleasure of knowing passed away recently after a long battle with cancer, and her struggle has been an encouragement to more people than I can count. When I was her student, it never occured to me how much pain she was in on a daily basis, or how strongly she had to feel about her students to get up at 7 in the morning every day just to be an example of what faith can do. It's a small, shallow little world, and i've seen people with hearts bigger than the circumstances that throw off the strongest of us. Sometimes it's hard to love. Sometimes it's difficult to get through the day. And the phrase "Someone always has it harder" does not even begin to explain the hardships of those that God has choosen to be the greatest; and therefore, the least. "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:6-7 God makes it clear that our greatest strength may very well be our downfall because of the misplaced confidence we put in ourselves. In the same way, our greatest weakness allows us to realize how we need God, and in the moment we recognize our inability to carry on by ourselves, that is where His strength boosts us up. His grace is sufficient for me. You see, we have no real strength of our own. It's His strength that is made alive and powerful by our weakness and submission. Even our greatest confidence is meaningless, small and in vain. After all, how big can our britches get? If Neil Armstrong can cover all of us with his thumb, imagine what God can do! God wants to use His power to help us, but first we have to use our weakness to glorify Him. His plan is to love us and to take care of us, to walk through every trial and tribulation by our side. And to not only praise Him in the good times, but also praise Him through the storm. And in the end, no matter how weak we are, we can't lose, because God will always win. "I'm a winner either way." ~Peggy Golightly