Do you have wonderful intentions of trying new things and accomplishing worthy goals, but then life happens? Illness strikes hard or other foreseen circumstances occur. Confession – I’m right there with you. My neatly and sweetly crafted list of “goals and dreams” is buried somewhere under mountains of paperwork I haven’t touched since…well, I don’t even know. Life is confusing in the midst of failure.
Try as I may to fight the events of life, sometimes I just can’t seem to accomplish the tasks I want, let alone the ones I need. Therefore, I feel like I’ve failed in the tasks set before me, leaving me with lingering uncertainty of my purpose and calling.
It’s dangerous to focus on our failures. If we’re not careful, it’ll suck us right in and create a whole new set of problems.
2 Corinthians 12: 9 “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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
God’s Grace Is Enough In Our Failure
One morning, I woke up late and nearly missed my first ESL teaching of the day. I felt disjointed and unfocused for the rest of the morning. This feeling swept into our homeschool day as I lacked the patience to cook lunch, check math problems, and assist in potty time.
Looping similar mornings in my head like a record player, I knew this was not the first time I lacked grace. The more I played those mornings in my head, nagging messages drifted into my spirit.
“Why do you even bother?,”You know you can handle any of this.” “Just give it up already.” “You know you’ll just fail, so you should just quit.”
The longer I entertained these feelings, the more I believed them. The result was not pretty. In fact, it was just ugly. The truth I knew was clouded by the failures I could see.
Let’s read that first part of the verse above again. “My grace is sufficient for you..” When I have those days when:
- fixing a meal seems taxing…His grace is sufficient for me.
- I’ve said the same phrase to my children too many times… His grace is sufficient for me.
- I can’t______ He can’t because His grace is sufficient for me.
I don’t know what struggles you’re facing today, but His grace is sufficient for you.
God’s Power Is Perfect In Our Weakness
I love chocolate – seriously, it really is a problem. I often find myself making frequent trips to the pantry to pop “one more” piece before I suddenly call out, “Hey, who ate all the candy? We just bought this stuff!” Yep. That’d be me. Eating all the chocolate. It’s my weakness. I always say that if all the food in the world suddenly disappeared but chocolate still remained, I’d be just fine.
We all have weaknesses; those small but important areas of lives that need tweaking. Please don’t start thinking that chocolate is my only weakness (I have several).
My friend and I were talking the other day about having a lack of patience with our children (who hasn’t been there, right?). As mothers, we often struggle to invite patience into our lives.
An unchecked lack of patience often turns into uncontrolled anger.
We woke up late for an appointment, so we snap at the child who can’t tie his shoes quickly (hand raises, here). We forgot to set the chicken out for dinner, so we blame our husband because he didn’t write a reminder note (yep, me again). Our friend gets the promotion we’ve been longing for and the green-eyed monster rears its ugly head as we force our congratulations. The list goes on.
Acknowledge Your Weaknesses
We all have shortcomings that we’re afraid to talk about. But, here’s the thing – we must acknowledge our weaknesses because that is where we acknowledge God’s power.
Bravely acknowledging our weaknesses allows us to boldly proclaim God’s power.
Friend, when we bravely acknowledge our weaknesses, our failures, we allow the power of Christ to rest upon us. There is nothing in our lives that we can do on our own. It is only by the power of Christ that we accomplish the daily tasks set before us. It is not of our own strength that we flourish in the trials of motherhood, homemaking skills, careers, etc. It is by the power of God’s strength that we flourish in the midst of failure.
Rest In God’s Power In the Midst of Failure
When you find yourself focusing on your failures, pause and reclaim God’s truth. He knows you have weaknesses. In your weakness, He is made strong. Bravely acknowledge them and boldly proclaim His power.
-Danielle
