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My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (MSG)
The Apostle Paul wrote the above words to the church in Corinth. He mentions “physical limitation” or “thorn” or even a handicap in the previous verses.
Thorn is the word I like best.
What was Paul’s thorn?
Did he have a physical impairment–bad eyesight, epilepsy, a limp?
Or was his thorn spiritual in nature?
As my two-year mark as a widow approached, the above verses kept coming to me, over and over and over. Now I’m certainly no Biblical scholar, but I am familiar with Paul’s story, of asking God to take his “thorn” away, three times.
We all have thorns. Not one of us is “thorn-free.”
The thorn of widowhood pierced my flesh. I wasn’t ready for it. None of us are.
We come from different places geographically. Different denominations and faiths. We may be financially secure or we may be struggling. Some might have young children at home, or be an empty nester, or childless. Our skin color, our hair color, and our ages most likely run the spectrum. Politically we might not see eye to eye.
But we all bear the same thorn. And that thorn binds us together.
Who hasn’t asked God to remove this thorn? I have asked many times. On the day it was evident that, short of a miracle, I would become a widow, I begged, pleaded, cried, and tried to bargain with God. “God, please take this! You have to heal him. You cannot take this daddy away from his two little boys!”
But it happened. A few minutes before midnight on that fateful day, I became a member of this club that no one ever wants to join.
So, what do you do with a thorn of this magnitude? It’s overwhelming at times.
I look to Paul. He prayed for God to take away his thorn. And God answered.
Instead of removing Paul’s thorn, He told him, “My grace is enough; it’s all you need!”
God’s grace is enough. It’s all that you need.
No matter the thorn, no matter how deep, no matter how messy and infected it might get, God’s infinite grace is enough.
My future looked bleak. I lost the love of my life, and was left a single mother to two young boys. I didn’t have a clue as to what I would do, where I would live, how I would make it without my husband. I told folks I felt as if my arms had been cut off.
But God’s grace was sufficient.
He swept in, picked up the pieces of my brokenness, and showed me that although my life would be different, it could still be beautiful and worth living.
“My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”
Those first few months, whenever the storm would threaten to drown me, I would whisper, “When I am weak, You are strong…”
Sometimes, alone in my car, tears welling up, overwhelmed by life in general, I would scream it, but only when my windows were rolled up. No one heard me but God. He was the only one that mattered.
After Paul was given the message of God’s grace, I love what he did. He quit dwelling on the thorn, instead choosing to appreciate the gift.
“Widow” will be an identifying thorn in each of us for the rest of our earthly lives. If we’re stuck with it, why not choose to embrace it, and attempt to appreciate the gift?
I may never appreciate having this thorn, but I can appreciate how my life has re-formed around it.
Allow God’s grace to fashion a new life around your thorn. Never ever forget what you had, but let God’s strength come shining through your weakness.
It doesn’t happen overnight. It doesn’t happen quickly. But bit by bit, step by step, immersing yourself in God’s words, praying for guidance and discernment, you will begin to heal.
God’s grace is enough. It’s all you need. Let Christ take over.
In your weakness, His strength becomes evident. In turn, you gain strength from Him.
Father, We come to You today, as kindred sisters, all bearing the thorns of widowhood. Some of us are still hurting from the initial sting, while others have begun to learn to live with the symptoms. Remind us all that no matter how long we’ve been in this club, we have Your grace and Your strength with us always. We pray that the friendships we’re making in this sisterhood will continue to grow. In Jesus’ name we ask it all, Amen.
