How God Deals With Your Weakness

All you have to do is talk to a college student the week before Thanksgiving to know living is impossible. All the tasks we need to accomplish are more than a person can do.

Or ask someone how he’s doing, with sincerity of heart that really begs an answer, and get the honest response that things are hard.

And as for me, it seems there is always a shortage of motivation to attack paperwork or to get on the treadmill like I know I should. I can’t seem to pull myself to do the housework that needs to be done or to care for all the people I want to care for.

Last week I faced that trauma at school followed by a funeral, and the whole time I kept thinking about how weak I felt on the inside—how crippled by the pain and not knowing how to endure the crush of it inside my weary heart.

So I read across a Bible verse yesterday that felt wonderful.

Like last Friday night, when my son came home from a football game with frozen toes, and I heated up the rice bag and wrapped it around his feet. (Of course, I wasn’t thinking at the time that this would make the use of the rice bag unappealing to anyone else in the future.)

“Oh, Mom, you’re awesome,” he said. Sometimes I am.

This verse I found is like that toasty rice bag, for when you’re worn out and you can’t feel your toes anymore.

“I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength” (Heb. 11:32-34, NIV).

Through faith … their weakness was turned to strength. Doesn’t the truth of this feel good?

Now, faith, that’s something I can do while I’m still under the covers in the morning.

Faith that God can take a little college girl who is about to crater under four group projects (which are straight from the devil) and help her finish well.

Faith that God can take a weary friend and give him everything he needs to live a strong life. All the money, all the emotional energy, all the hope.

Faith that God can get my sorry self on that treadmill today and help me pay bills when I would rather be doing anything else.

Here is my secret to being a person of faith: First thing in the morning I groan as I roll over and say, “Oh, God, help me. I cannot do this day without you. I am pathetic unless you do a miracle and make me a bigger person than we both know I am.” 

God wants glory, and that starts with all those things we know we’re too weak to pull off. 

Feels like we aren’t gonna make it?

Perfect.

We let the Almighty God step in and flex those muscles of His.

Christy Fitzwater is the author of A Study of Psalm 25: Seven Actions to Take When Life Gets Hard. She is a blogger, pastor’s wife and mom of two teenagers and resides in Montana. Visit ChristyFitzwater.com for more information about her ministry.