So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ — I am made yet stronger. 2 Corinthians 12:10 (TPT)

True of Us – Weaker/Stronger Series – Part 7

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6  |  PART 7

It’s a clichéd statement, but a true one.

We are stronger together. United. Arm in arm.
It’s true on every level, from global to personal.

You are a stronger person when you can look at yourself holistically, and include all the bad and all the good.

You don’t have to air your dirty laundry out for all the world to see. Some stories are sacred, to be shared and carried by only a few. But it is important that you share them. You don’t have to hide; you don’t have to pretend to be as strong as strong can be.

True strength is found in humility, vulnerability, and surrender.

Here I am.
This is me.
Loved. Graced. Strengthened.

What’s true of us on a personal level, is true of us on a global and communal level. We are better together. That doesn’t mean that we all have to believe the same things, live the same ways, and look the same on the outside.

We are a vibrant and diverse global community. But at the same time, we have more in common with one another than what we know (and what some are willing to admit).

Some of us are shrouded in weakness from the outside, with pressures upon us that would make the “strong” melt to their knees, even lower.

Some of us don’t know what it would be like to live in such hardship and pain. Those things should not divide us: like our own weaknesses are not divided from our own bodies and souls, neither are the weak and vulnerable in the world apart from those of us who are not. We are together in this.

And we can do hard things.
We should.
We need to.
We must.

We are strongest when we attend to weakness. When we open (sometimes pry with all our might) up holes and spaces for the light to come in.

It’s not that we delight in weakness and take joy in hardships. But rather, its that we don’t turn a blind eye, we don’t ignore the pain and suffering, we don’t push down the sins and mistakes. We embrace them, scoop them up with love, hold them tight with grace, and forgive them with compassion and mercy.

Justice? What is justice if it’s not a world transformed? There is no silver bullet to heal the world in an instant. It's going to take us being the hands and feet of Christ. It’s going to take us living into our healing and bringing it to others as we go. “Kingdom-come” kind of work.

On her website, Glennon Doyle Melton says:

“When we looked inward and learned that we could face our own pain, we became brave enough to look outward to face the pain of the world.”

I’m going to lean on this, for my life personally, and for us collectively:

“My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ — I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.” 2 Cor 12:9-10 TPT.

May we be honest about our weaknesses.
May we learn to love our whole selves, shaking off shame and embracing healing.
May we shower the weak and vulnerable and hurting places within our lives, communities, and the world, with practical and spiritual love.

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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