His Grace Is Sufficient For Me....

We faced many obstacles when I was in the village, sickness, weather, spiritual blindness, but in all these things I saw the hand of God and his blessings.
Every time that I am with my kids and the other missionaries I am acutely aware of the way God seems to meet their needs. It is a blessing to watch God's power at work in their lives.

One verse that kept coming to mind over the week was in IICorinthians 12:8-10:
"Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake;for when I am weak then I am strong."

In this verse we see that Paul is longing for relief from his "thorn in the flesh", so that 3 times he asked God to remove it. I am not sure what Paul's thorn was but we see God refuse to remove it instead He tells Paul,
"MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU"
IS SUFFICIENT is a verb in the present tense / meaning that there is constant availability....So for Paul and Us, God's divine grace seen in Jesus Christ is constantly available and is enough. God would not take away the problem, but God would provide the grace to endure it.

"MY POWER IS PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS"
Our weakness as humans allows God's power to be more manifest.

I know for sure that when there was no doctor and my grandson was burning up, when the rain was coming in sheets and destroying the road in and out, when there was no one to call to remove a huge tree in the road, when the people walked in darkness and not light, these were the obstacles that allowed God's grace and power to shine through. He did not take them away, but He gave the grace to work through them.

The next verse is the hard part, I think.
"MOST GLADLY, THEREFORE,I WILL RATHER BOAST ABOUT MY WEAKNESSES, SO THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY DWELL IN ME."

I am ashamed to admit that "MOST GLADLY" was not my first reaction, I came to it, but not my first reaction. Paul says He would not rejoice in the pain of his obstacle, but be content(have a proper mindset) in the power of Christ seen through it.
So it's not about the weaknesses or the insults, or the distresses, or the persecutions or the difficulties, but instead about Christ and Him glorified.
That is a tough call for me. Most times my focus was on the difficulties instead of recognizing that the power of Christ had the potential to be seen through the obstacle. I see that missionaries live with so many daily obstacles that their first reaction is prayer and then they face the obstacles expecting God to give His grace to deal with it, and He does.

With each obstacle God kept reminding me that HE was able. That HE was bigger than all the obstacles.
So as a POM, and a POM grandma I will rejoice in the struggles that my children face, and then I will pray that He will be lifted up in their lives.

Lord I Pray.....
That Your Grace will be sufficient for my missionary family, that Your power will be perfected in their weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in them. Help them and me to be content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with the difficulties;for Christ's sake; for when we are weak then we are strong.
so Lord that when each obstacle is gone through and the power of Christ is manifest, then You will be glorified. I Pray In Jesus Name....Amen