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When We are Weak, Then We are Strong - Encouragement Café - July 31, 2015

When We Are Weak, Then We Are Strong

Café Menu for Friday, July 31, 2015

Today’s Special is:  Accepting God’s Gift of Grace

Carefully prepared just for you by your friend, Michelle S. Lazurek

Main Ingredient:

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV

Entrée:

Nausea, abdominal pain and general malaise had been plaguing me for the past couple of months.  In my desperation, I went to the elders of my church and had them pray over me.  I noticed a great decrease in symptoms after that, for which I was incredibly thankful.

However, the symptoms did not disappear completely.  During my prayer time, I thought perhaps there was more to this than just physical illness.  Perhaps there was a link between my emotional, physical and spiritual well-being.

Praying and asking God to reveal any areas that He might want me to improve, He graciously revealed that I had high levels of fear and anxiety directly related to a negative event that I experienced as a child.  Because of God’s revelation, I was able to admit my lack of faith and casting my anxieties onto God. 

Days after praying, I noticed the symptoms improve further.  God could choose to heal me whether I confessed my sin or not.  Yet God chose to provide me the opportunity to accept His Grace and humbly and commune with Him once again.  

Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God offers us the opportunity to accept His gracious gift of fellowship and reconcile with us.

God knew exactly what was causing my illness.  Instead of punishing me for my poor diet and lack of self-care, He instead graciously revealed to me the habits that may be robbing me of my health.  He was allowing me an opportunity to demonstrate His Strength during my time of weakness.  By allowing me to admit my failures to Him, He offered me a new life – a life free from the bondage of sickness and a life of grace, freedom and health.

Take Out:

By accepting God’s Grace, He demonstrates His Strength in our weakness.  

Will you accept God’s gift of grace today?

Dessert:

Lord, help us to accept the gracious gift of admitting our sin and reconciling our relationship with You. Amen.

© 2015 by Michelle S. Lazurek.  All rights reserved.

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