Power Made Perfect in Weakness

It has seemed like almost everyone I know has had a bad case of the Monday blues today! It could be because it is absolutely freezing here (much colder than it was in North Carolina this weekend), or that it has rained here almost every single day since I came back from sunny Fort Lauderdale . . . two weeks ago. But weather aside, I think we could all use a little extra encouragement on this chilly Monday!

I was reading these verses today, and they really gave me the boost I needed to tackle this day:

"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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

God's power is made perfect IN our weakness. Not after we overcome our weakness, but in the midst of it, His power is there, proving itself most effective on our behalf. And when we learn to celebrate our weaknesses as an opportunity for God to show His power through us, then His power will rest upon us all the more fully. The Greek word here translated "rest upon" actually means something more like "to pitch a tent over" or "to dwell with," and I love that imagery. Christ's power may pitch a tent over us . . . may dwell with us . . . may rest upon us.

The power of the risen Christ is available to us at all times, and as we learn to embrace the inevitable weakness and difficulty we all face in areas of our lives, it will become ever more real to us, transforming our own weakness into Christ's strength operating through us. This is indeed one of many divine paradoxes . . . when I am weak, then I am strong. Because His grace is always sufficient for us.