I was saying to Joanne last night that it seems like so many of our friends are  suffering right now.  It is a season unlike any I have seen.  It runs the gamut from financial hardship, to illness (mental and physical), to loss of loved ones, and on and on.  I have, on certain days over the last weeks felt a sense of oppression; a heaviness that pervades everything. Our family is in a good place today (thanks be to God) but we have certainly had our share of pitch-black times as well.  As a result I feel a great deal of empathy, especially for friends that are struggling with depression, mental illness or addiction.  I have walked that path.

Anyhow, I was emailing with a new friend this morning about some of this and she brought to my attention 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10.  I love The Message Bible so this is how it is translated in this version.  Paul says:

At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

These verses made my heart swell, and I had an emotional reaction to the words—a real rarity for me.  Of all the things that God could have said to Paul about dealing with his affliction he says, “My grace is enough.”  He could have said something about his power, his righteousness, his compassion, but he says it’s his grace that is enough.  As a person who has given much of my life over the last couple of years to spreading the message of grace I was astonished that I had never come across this verse.  What an encouragement it would have been in my own dark times!  Maybe God was saving it for a time such as this. I claim this verse today for myself and for my friends that are suffering!

I was moved to think of my favorite visual image that helps me daily in my relationship with Christ.  It is one that I read in TrueFaced years ago.  I picture Jesus with his arm around me.  Most of the time when Jesus is standing there with me we are looking at my sin and my failings together.  He tells me that we are going to work on my sin together and  that it will never separate us.  But today I thought about that same image with Jesus saying, “Your affliction will never come between us.  We will work through it together.  My grace is enough! The weaker you get the stronger I am.”  In my mind Christ’s arm around me is not only one of comfort but of strength, holding me up when I can’t even stand under my own power.  This image has taken on a whole new light for me today.

So for all my friends, in all the affliction that you find yourselves in today, take courage that God’s grace is enough and that his son Jesus stands with you, never allowing the tragedy, the pain, the illness, the injury, the injustice to stand between the two of you.  He is right by your side, holding you up when you cannot stand.  His grace is enough!

Filed under: GRACE by toben