Power.....

Last night (while in town) I was watching a movie with the 2 sick boys.  I got up to get some tea and I said “Don’t pause the movie” being so used to solar power and not wanting to waste time and volts…..but the youngest piped up “we have time and lots of electricity, so we can pause as long as we want!”

We were tapped into a great source!  This made that we could pause, take our time and relax and not worry that we were wasting the precious little energy we had!  It was still in the back of my mind when I read this verse “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 

How many times do i not tap into our own limited power source that runs dry so quickly?  How many times do I not realize there is more, oh so much more for me to use?

Solar panels are quite useless without the Sun.  Batteries neatly stacked in a cupboard are quite useless without the solar panels and the sun.  But I try to squeeze out my limited and mostly failing, power, to try and go on, while all I need to do is tap in to an unlimited Source!

But how do I do this?  How do I apply this verse in day to day life?  What do I do when I feel Weak, when I am Insulted, when I face Hardships or Persecution, when life throws all kinds of Difficulties my way? 

The next verse gives me a clue….”That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, THEN I am strong.

So for the sake of Jesus, I have to Delight in all this stuff that makes my life hard.  Then I need to acknowledge that I cannot overcome by myself and only then I can become strong.  I can tap into God’s power.  In practical terms for me, I need to flip the switch and this is how I do it – I admit I need more help/power/strength/wisdom/etc, I tell my Father all of this, I try and delight myself (if it is real hard I choose to think of Him receiving glory through Him helping me), I believe He is with me and knows all things and everything that is making life miserable/hard/unbearable/difficult and then I trust Him for His power to flow through me.  For me the first step is mostly the hardest – I need to admit I need help and talk to God about it – not grumble, complain, throw pots and pans around in the sink….i need to calm down and say “I need You!!”  Sometimes I wonder if I am not much like a two year old who does not want any help, thank you very much!!  A 2year old who struggles to do everything herself and then end up in tears because life just got too difficult to handle alone.  And that with a loving Hand right there ready to help.

This week has not been easy To say the least!!  There have been times of extreme weakness, there have been insults, hardships, difficulties – and all this in one week!!  But I can know one thing – When I am weak, then I am strong.  And in this realization I find rest for my weary soul. 

Bella