FROM WEAKNESS TO STRENGTH

I am in a learning cycle…One I’ve never navigated before, at least not quite like this.

This is the week of my 82nd birthday.  God has given me and my husband a long and beautiful life in Kingdom service around the world.  Our children, in their 50’s, love and serve God.

Yet, I have been fighting a stomach flu for two weeks.  This past Sunday I spent four hours in an Emergency Room.  This is a time of weakness.  I admit I do not like this inconveniently ill-timed (for me at least) event.  It messes up my plans.  I do like to eat, which I cannot at this point.  My sleep patterns are off.  Suddenly, I have moments of feeling “elderly”.  Did I just say that?

But, I remember…Three weeks ago I led a 24-hour Semi-Silent Retreat for four women who had never experienced this.  I asked them to give me one word about their mental state upon arrival.  One arrived, “curious,” another, “overwhelmed,” the third, worn out with “impatience,” and the fourth came with her mind in total “chaos.”From the first hour to the 24th, I witnessed before my very eyes, TRANSFORMATION!

Oh, how powerful is God’s Word, how redemptive honesty can be, how satisfying to be in a safe community around the Savior Who sees us, loves us, and heals our heartaches. How marvelous is God’s Spirit to touch deeply the parts of our lives we thought He couldn’t see…with compassion.

So, today I receive as a gift this present uncomfortable moment of illness, to acknowledge my own fears and weaknesses and to receive renewed strength.  I have time to bask in God’s loving grace and to rest in His Divine plan.

What weakness do you fear?  From where do you derive strength to go forward?

— Write it down.  Ask God what He thinks about it.  Wait before Him.  Be attentive.

May you find your fear receding, as Christ’s presence permeates your soul.

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God:  for I shall again praise Him, my help and my God…My soul is cast down with me; therefore I remember You…Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my help and my God.

Psalm 42.5-6a, 11.