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.
Paul had asked God three times to remove something painful from his life. The answer wasn't yes. It wasn't really no either — it was something stranger: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
That's not the answer most of us want. We want the problem gone, not a reason to be at peace while it stays. But there's something quietly radical buried in it — the idea that your weakest, least impressive moments aren't disqualifying. They might actually be where something greater than you becomes visible.
If you've spent your life trying to hide the places you feel weak, or fixing them before you'll let anyone see, this verse is asking a very different question: what if that weakness isn't the obstacle to something good, but the exact place where it shows up?
If the thought of your weakness being the place grace shows up sounds backwards, it might be worth asking Jesus what he meant by it.
A short video on this is coming soon — for now, read on.