Today’s Verse

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. — II Corinthians 12:10 (ESV)

Devotion

I didn't want my life to go this way, but that's the way it went. It didn't matter what I wanted. I had health issues and I was forced to come to terms with them. They held me back. They kept me from achieving everything I wanted to achieve?academically, athletically, romantically, and in my calling and career. It was frustrating. It was frustrating in the extreme. It seemed like everyone else was leading a normal life. It seemed like I was the only one being held back.

It wasn't just health issues either. There were other problems as well. There were financial hardships that kept me from doing what I wanted to do and going where I wanted to go. There were also difficult people in my pathway that hindered my forward progress. The very people I needed to help me seemed to be the very ones who were standing in my way. There were insults. There was persecution. At times, it seemed like the whole world was designed to keep me down.

I prayed to God about my situation, I prayed many times. Although there were many answers to prayer, I didn't get the answers I really wanted. I wanted healing. I wanted an end to the problems. I prayed in faith, believing that God would help me. Indeed, I prayed the way Jesus said we should pray: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24). I believed, but years went by, and I didn't see what I wanted to see.

Although there were the health issues, the hindrances, the hardships, and the persecutions, I kept moving forward. I kept following the Lord's call on my life. It wasn't as fast as I would have preferred, but there was forward movement. And I began to notice something. I began to notice that I was effective despite my issues. I began to notice that the Lord was working through me despite everything. I began to see that what the Apostle Paul said is true: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (II Corinthians 12:9).

For Christ's sake, then, I have come to accept the way my life has gone. I have come to accept the fact that, "when I am weak, then I am strong."