But You are Strong

I am insecure. I doubt. I'm afraid. I'm broken. I'm weak.

I was talking to my mom the other day about my insecurity and doubt and she told me several things. One, it's okay to doubt, be insecure, and be weak. Two, I didn't like to be weak.

Let me go into those things...

She explained that it's okay for me to doubt sometimes, or be insecure, or not always do everything perfect... Because its in our weakness that God works mightily.
And she told me that I didn't like to be weak. Trust me, I know I'm not perfect, but I guess maybe I got the wrong idea of things. When Jesus is with us He doesn't just take away all our doubts, insecurities, weaknesses, and fears... He works through them.

There's a verse in 2 Corinthians that I've heard several times but haven't really ever thought about until my mom shared it with me the other day...

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.  So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Wow. God's power is perfected in our weakness. He doesn't make our lives perfect, He doesn't make us fearless or anything... He works through us despite of our flaws. We need Him.

There was another Bible verse she shared with me...

 1 Corinthians 3:18-23, "No one should deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, he must become foolish so that he can become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written: He catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are meaningless. So no one should boast in human leaders, for everything is yours— whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."

Let me try to summarize what that means. Our human reasoning, compared to God's wisdom, is foolish. We can think we're so smart and know so much but honestly? Our wisdom is foolish in His eyes. We need to humble ourselves before Jesus... we on our own aren't wise and we're weak. We have to accept those facts so that Jesus can do amazing things through us.

We don't need to be completely secure, have no doubts, be fearless, or strong. What we need is Jesus. His power is perfected in our weakness - I can't say that enough! We are inefficient, but He is sufficient for us. We can never be enough, we will mess up time after time - but His grace is sufficient.
It's okay if we're insecure, doubtful, afraid, or weak. News flash, everyone is at times. But it's in those moments where God works the greatest.

I wrote the poem below after I talked with my mom about all of this... it was originally written as song lyrics, but since I have no music I'll type it out as a poem...

But You Are Strong

I have doubt and fear.
Insecurity and weakness lingers near.
I may feel broken today,
But that’s okay.

Because in weakness Your power is perfected.
This pain may be unexpected.
But it’s in my weakness that Your power resides.
It’s Your Spirit Who guides.
It’s in my weakest place,
That I’m flooded with Your grace.
It’s for You I long.
I may be weak, but You are strong.

I may be inefficient,
But Your grace is sufficient.
I may be broken and weak,
But in that time it’s You I seek.

It’s not for me, it’s all for You.
I’m just here for You to work through.
Let my whole story be,
For Your glory.
You are right and I am wrong.
I may be weak, but You are strong.

~~~~~

I don't know what you're going through right now, but I just want to say that God is sufficient. It's okay to be doubtful at times, afraid, or insecure. We're just empty, broken vessels for Him to work through. It's all for His glory, not our own.

I guess I always thought that insecurity and doubt were seasons that we go through in our walk with Jesus sometimes, but overcome. That's not always the case. Insecurity, doubt, and fear may chase me down all my life.... but that's okay. Because it's in those times where Jesus works through me the most. It's in my weakness that He gets the most glory. 

To be honest I'm still learning all the lessons I just wrote down in this blog post, but that's okay. We always have more to learn and a lot of the time certain lessons have to be repeated over and over for us to finally begin to grasp.

So just remember this.... It's okay if you struggle sometimes, or if you're weak and imperfect. I'm weak and imperfect too. In those times then allow God to work through you, it's in weakness where His power is perfected.

Psalm 57:5, "God, be exalted above the heavens; let Your glory be over the whole earth."


~~~~~

Side note: This Saturday I'm leaving to go on a mission trip and the week after I'm going on another trip so the next two Tuesday's I'll  be posting a prewritten post if I can. Have a great week! :)