Episode #358 Strength for Hard Seasons – Real Peace, Secure Faith – Real Peace, Secure Faith

Hey, friend. I have a fun thought to start us out today: The strength that God offers is better than adrenaline. Now, as I was prepping for this episode, I was thinking about how my husband often has really optimistic perspectives about my ability to help him move heavy things. We get a new piece of furniture or something, or we're reorganizing our home and he's like, “Come on, babe, you can do it. Lift this thing with me as we go up the stairs.”

And he just has this disproportionate amount of confidence that I can move a heavy thing that is beyond my level of strength. This was happening recently. And I'm struggling under the weight of this piece of furniture and I'm giving it my all. I'm trying to remember to lift with my legs and not with my back. And I had the thought cross my mind: Pretend like one of the boys is being crushed by a car. Because we've all seen those videos, right? Of a mom who has that adrenaline rush and mama bear instinct to rescue her kid. And so suddenly she is able to lift a car to free her kid from underneath it, right? And so I'm thinking, “Okay, can I just trick my brain for a second into having enough adrenaline to lift this heavy thing?”

So I'm thinking about that in the context of what real strength looks like in hard seasons. Because the strength that we most desperately need that will sustain us when we are weak, when we are in need, doesn't come from adrenaline. The strength that we need comes from God's sustaining grace.

I'm gonna read for us 2 Corinthians 12:9. It says:

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

God's grace is sufficient for us, even in our weaknesses. We can make it through hard things because he sustains us. I don't have to work up strength on my own. I don't have to try and force my brain into some adrenaline response. I don't even have to be emotionally unshakeable to trust that God is faithful. I just need to turn to him. Recognizing my weakness and recognizing that his grace is greater than it.

Grace has two really clear definitions. One is giving us the good that we don't deserve, that we couldn't earn or achieve. And a type of what God gives us that we can't earn or achieve on our own is supernatural enablement. That we can be weak in hard circumstances and make it through because God's grace sustains us. And it's God's power that's made perfect in weakness, not mine. It's not that I acknowledge my weakness, and so then I have more power that's perfected in me. It says God's grace is sufficient for me. God's grace is sufficient for you, and his power is made perfect in weakness, and so even in your own weakness, in hard circumstances, the power of Christ can rest on you because in grace he offers us supernatural enablement.

And what keeps catching my eye and stirring my heart as I look at this is that strength doesn't come through hype. It's through his presence. Because in those hard things, in my weakness, God is there with his power. He rests on me. He empowers me, and he offers the same to each one of us today.

And so here is a question I invite you to take to him and sit with it:

God, I'm aware of my weakness, but I wanna be more aware of your grace. What grace do you offer me today?

I'm excited for what he will share with you.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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