To be strong you must first be weak.
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 [KJV]
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” -Isaiah 40:29 [KJV]
No matter who you are it is ultimately inevitable that at some point in your life you will face hardship; the bible promises us that in John 16:33. However, hardship and tribulation may look different in everyone’s life. It may look like a dead end job that you are in need of financially but brings you no true fulfillment. Hardship may visit as gloomy haze that bogs the mind relentlessly. Hardship may take the form of a child that has shut you out. Hardship could come in a family of four that now grieves as a family of three. Hardship looks like divorce, cancer, and insomnia. Hardship feels like loneliness, and regret, and rising out of bitterness. Hardship has many names, but we all recognize it’s face.
Hard times are hard in themselves alone but the truly hard thing about hard times is, it doesn’t matter if you were ready or not. Hardship is like playing Hide n’ go seek with no time to hide; ready or not, here I come. Provided if you had time to prepare yourself or if it has just fallen into your lap; it’s here and it hurts. So quickly you have to scrape up some way to endure it; You have to be strong..or do you?
I once faced my own dealing of hardship, and ready I was not. It took some time to gather myself and get a game plan together but the first step of this plan was a promise I made, to myself. Some live by the slogan “fake it till you make it” Pardon me, if you favor it but I’ve never been fond of the saying. I say this because every time I tried to fake happy, to fake strong; it left me broken. I was portraying that I possessed something I just didn’t. You can turn on Mozart and gently slide your hands up and down the ivory’s all day but at the end of that day you still won’t know how to play the piano. You can go from stage to stage lip syncing to someone else’s song but when the curtain closes you still won’t have the voice. Fake it all you want but all it makes is a hallow facade.
I promised to myself that I would not wallow in self-pity or label myself as a victim but I also would never pretend to have something I didn’t have or be something I wasn’t. The truth about overcoming hardship is that it does take time. Everyone wants to be happy, to be strong, and to have everything together but the first truth you have to acknowledge is that it won’t always be like that. No matter how much we wish we could snap our fingers and everything would make sense again, it most often just does not work that way. However there’s a very significant and beautiful casing to this truth; that is that Jesus works wonderfully in weakness.
It is so much better to “faith” it till you make it rather than fake it. When you fake strong or force yourself to act out something you don’t have it just leaves you tired and pained. I encourage you to instead, sacrifice your self sufficient, strong facade and embrace your season of weakness. I will confess a truth to you that most would never utter and that is, there is many beautiful attributes to weakness. When you decide to “faith” it till you make it you allow the Holy Spirit to guide you into your joy, guide you into your heart’s healing, guide you into your strength. A little time and submission to God will go a long way.
“Jesus works wonderfully in weakness.”
My advice to you is, don’t rush it; don’t rush God. Isaiah 40:31 says those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. There is a time to be strong and a time to be weak. And lets get real, it’s not easy to admit our weaknesses; ah that stubborn pride. Moreover, I’ve learned that your perception of your weakness can really make or break what God desires to do in you in this season. The devil would love you to perceive your weakness for defeat. He would love for you to see your shortcomings as failure. He wants you to wriggle his way into your mindset to see your season of weakness as a time you prayed and prayed and prayed and it was never enough. –I want to challenge you to something.
I challenge you to change your perception.
I don’t know what you’re going through but I do know that God will bring you through it. Here are some simple truths to speak over your weakness:
Your weakness isn’t defeat; the battle isn’t over. It takes time to gain victory. Strap on your armor and focus more on fighting and less on how you feel.
Your weakness isn’t failure; its the perfect place for God to rise you up in success.
Your weakness isn’t an attribute of your depression but an anchor for your amelioration.
“A little time and submission to God will go a long way”
To be strong you must first be weak. So boast in your infirmities; all your shortcomings. If you desire to be strong, embrace your weaknesses; speak the word of God to them. Cry if you have to cry, mourn if you have to mourn, but never give up. Allow the Lord to nurture your infirmities. We serve a God that doesn’t just work with our weaknesses or tolerate our frailties but His strength is actually perfected in all of it.
Choose today to discover your “most gladly” [2 Corinthians 12:9] Weakness doesn’t have to correspond with sadness. Pray to Jesus for His mighty power to rest on you, that you will discover a joy in your weakness. When you choose to embrace your season of weakness everything changes. What a joy to know that when we can’t Jesus can! When we don’t know, Jesus knows! When we don’t know what to do, He directs our steps! [Matthew 19:26, Psalm 139:4, Proverbs 16:9]
There is a time to be strong and a time to be weak and maybe this is your season of weakness, and that’s okay. If you desire to be strong, this is the perfect place of preparation; trust God and don’t be in such a hurry, there’s beauty in weakness too.