“…For when I am weak, then I am strong.” ~ 2 Corinthians 12:10

This statement made by Paul sounds very much like a contradiction at first. How can someone be strong when they are weak? Is it possible for strength to be born out of weakness?

But God has been teaching me the truth of this apparent contradiction through my  daily experiences as a new Mama.

Learning how to be a good caregiver for my son has been a growing process. As I’m met with each need of this child who depends on me so completely, the Lord is teaching me to put aside my selfishness and to rely on Him for the strength to meet those needs. And the one realization that I keep being confronted with is this:

I am extremely weak!

I need God’s help to get up during the night to feed Micah. I need His strength to rise in the morning after not having been able to sleep much due to insomnia. I need the Lord to assist me in determining how to calm my son when he cries and cries and I can’t figure out what is wrong. I need my heavenly Father to enable me to do what is best for Micah when all I want to do is to take “the easy way out.”

When the anxiety threatens to overwhelm me…when the headaches make it difficult for me to think…when I’m missing the days of being able to get up and go whenever and wherever I wanted…when I’ve run out of patience but am still required to give more…in EVERY situation I need God’s help.

At first this recognition of my utter weakness depressed me. But then God showed me that He had me right where He wanted me to be! The reason for this is that in my weakness Christ is able to display His supernatural strength.

Paul writes earlier in 2 Corinthians 12 regarding his “thorn in the flesh”:

“But [the Lord] 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 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.”

When we allow the Lord’s power to shine through our shortcomings, our weakness becomes strength. 💛