But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
Well, for somebody that’s supposed to be writing a book, I’m sure getting alot of blog posts, instead! It seems that as I take my morning walks, I’m getting stuff dropped into my spirit! I suppose this has been brewing for a couple of weeks!
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading some posts by author/speaker/teacher/Ziglar trainer Michelle Prince. She asked 2 questions. 1.) What is your passion? That thing that you can’t help but talk about, and you get all giddy and heart-racey when you do? 2.) What is the area of your life that you struggle with? Or not even necessarily struggle but maybe just feel ill-equipped or inadequate in some way?
I was a bit taken aback to discover that both answers are the same for me! I LOVE ministering to mamas! I love having a chance to speak encouragement and truth into them as they navigate motherhood. I am “many mamas” in my experience base! I’ve been a birth mom, adoptive mom, homeschooling mom, food allergy mom, breastfeeding mom, sensory struggles mom, etc. My heart is passionate for all of these groups of moms. And yet…mothering is the biggest area that the enemy seems to use to attack my confidence, joy, boldness, creativity, etc…berating my abilities and performance as a mom. Most days, I feel woefully lacking in this calling/season of life!
As I pondered this, this morning, I was also taken back to a ladies’ retreat I attended several weeks ago. The speaker’s theme that day was being a vessel for God to use. God had impressed upon her to keep a broken piece of pottery for YEARS, and she had it displayed that day for us to see. God uses us in our weaknesses! In fact, His Word tells us this is where He does His best work! We are moldable and useable when we take our weakness to Him and ask Him to use it to glorify Him.
You see, it is in this “laying down of our brokenness,” of the thorn or struggle we have battled, that God can take that brokenness and use it! Instead of being a source of pain, it becomes the very tool (that we talked about earlier in the week) that He uses to toot His own horn and show His power, authority, presence, and strength in our lives.
As I thought about putting broken things back together, I thought of the tiny cracks created in that process. If you take a repaired piece of pottery and put a light inside of it, rays of light shine through the cracks. This is the very picture of how God longs to use our struggles! When we are willing to tell the story of our struggles, brokenness, weakness, and redemption, God’s glory shines through our cracks! My friend, it isn’t IN SPITE of our cracks that He uses us! It’s BECAUSE of them!
Will you ask Him today to reveal that area to you? Will you ask what brokenness in your life He longs to use to minister to others? Will you trust Him to turn your thorn into a horn?
Lord, Jesus, it isn’t easy to walk through hard seasons. Sometimes, it’s not only not fun, but we don’t want it. However, your plans and ways are bigger than ours! You even want to use the hard places in our lives to bring others to you! Help us be willing participants in this holy plan! Help us to bold and willing to see, understand, and share our story with “the outermost parts of the earth.” In Jesus’ name, Amen!