Floyd & Sally McClung

I must confess that I don’t like the kinds of questions that have to do with “biggest,” “most,” “best.”  You know the kind I mean.  What is your most embarrassing moment?  What is the best…….?  What is your biggest…..?  I don’t tend to think in those terms, and I always feel so put on the spot…….like I have to come up with a wonderful answer.

And yet the other day I found myself thinking along these lines……my favorite verse (see it quoted below).  I love II Cor. 12:9!  Probably because I’ve needed the truth it contains so much in my life!

I love the way the verse says His grace “is” sufficient.  It’s present tense.  It wasn’t just available yesterday.  It won’t just be available in the future.  It’s available right now, this very minute, if I need it.  I have only to call upon Him.  He doesn’t always remove the problems from my life, but He does give me what I need to walk through the problem.  He helps me persevere and endure.

I like to be strong and up for the task, but this verse lets me know that in my weakness, if I’ll lean into Him and receive His grace, He can more clearly shine through me in His power.  He gets the honor and glory - not me!  There have been so many times in my life when I KNEW I couldn’t do something, couldn’t persevere through something……..but I knew He could through me.  He’s given me the strength and courage to face things I couldn’t have otherwise.

There are so many situations that I think back to:  living in Afghanistan, raising our children in the red light district of Amsterdam, living with physical pain, walking through conflict with friends, nursing our daughter in her illness, facing the possible loss of my daughter and grandson when he was born, leaving friends and family to move to a new land, trusting God for miraculous provision…….the list is endless.  If His grace hadn’t been there, I couldn’t have made it!!

In our life now in South Africa, I feel so inadequate in response to the need.  The problems, the needs, the numbers are so great.  I don’t know if I have the wisdom, time, or energy to meet them.  It can be overwhelming if I focus on myself.  His grace is ministered to my heart when I think about His infinite power and might.

I must say that I feel my “age” as well.  At age 58, I just don’t have the strength and energy that I had when I was 20 or 30.  I can’t go as long and as hard.  I need my sleep, and even a nap now and then.  I have some aches and pains that I didn’t use to have.  I do feel “weak.”  How grateful I am that His power can be shown forth in spite of my age-related weaknesses.

The comfort and testimony of looking back to how He’s helped me in the past gives me assurance in facing the new challenges of my present life.  I’m weak, inadequate……but He IS sufficient.  That’s why I love this verse!  It is my “favorite.”

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me………for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  II Cor. 12:9, 10