Sunday Stillness – God’s Grace is Enough
It has been quite a week. For those who were praying for me – thank you so much. Last week I caught a terrible virus – really knocked me flat. By Monday morning I did not feel like running a VBS – but I had to. And I prayed. Others prayed. And God gave me the strength to do it. Praising Him.
But he [God] 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 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 12:9-10, NIV).
For the rest of the week it was touch and go each day. Each day prayers were lifted and each day He made me strong.
- I prayed for joy – I felt joy.
- I prayed for the children to enjoy themselves. And they did.
- I prayed for the volunteers to be great with the kids. And they were.
- I prayed for peace through the week. They were the best children I have ever had the pleasure to meet. At no time did I have to raise my voice (I couldn’t anyway as I developed laryngitis by Tuesday). They listened; they were sweet to each other; they had fun.
I found out that Christ does make me strong.
I love the words to the Scripture in the Message. Christ’s strength did “move in on my weakness” and I do “take my limitations in stride”. Love that.
I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, The Message).
The children also learned about Jesus; who He is; and how to accept Him as their Saviour. Praising God for those who made that big decision.
I also thought of a great analogy as we were sanding our crosses outside on Friday. I realized as we were sanding them that God sands us too.
God sands our rough edges.
He teaches us the fruit of the Spirit. He smoothes us out.
I don’t know about you but there always seems to be a few rough edges on me. Then I hear Him speak – and I know what I did wrong. I make the correction and learn.
Prayer:
Thank You, Lord, so much for this past week. You taught me a lot. You taught me to count on You totally. When I am weak You are strong. You also taught me to rely on You completely. I pray that every child will remember this week and will always keep Jesus in their hearts. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.
I love the praise song Your Grace is Enough by Chris Tomlin.
Tweetables:
I found out that Christ does make me strong. (click to tweet)
God sands our rough edges. (click to tweet)
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Today is Sunday Stillness.
Special announcement to the people who link. If you wish to be notified that the linky is open please email me at Janis. Due to new legislation in Canada against anti-spam emails we must have permission to email you. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
Read the Sunday Stillness rules if you are new here.
I would appreciate if you would link only about God’s Word. If you have a linky party that’s okay if it is about the same thing. Please no sales or prizes. I want this to be friendly but I must ask you to abide by the rules. Others want to read God’s Word – and that is what I would like the links to be about. I must take down the links that don’t follow the rules. Thanks so much.
JOIN THE SUNDAY STILLNESS COMMUNITY –
READ OTHER POSTS AND ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER.
Please check out all the places I link to during the week. Thanks to everyone who has joined Sunday Stillness. I do try to get to your posts every week but I admit sometimes I don’t have the time.
Here are my favourite links for Sunday Stillness:
The Sunday Community by Deidra Riggs
Still Saturday by Sandra Heskaking
Missional Women – Faith Filled Fridays
Jennifer Miller at Scripture and a Snapshot
Fellowship Fridays at Christian Mommy Blogger
Shelly Hendricks at Renewed Daily (Recommendation Saturday)
Your turn: Add your link below. Don’t forget to copy the specific URL from your post. Talk to others.
Blessings to everyone.
Thanks so much to everyone who commented. I read them all but have been so full getting ready for the trip I can’t answer each of them.
blessings to all of you,
Janis
Amen! His Grace to see our need and recognize His provision. Thanks for sharing your life and your gift with words here. Also, thanks for inviting me to link- up! I’m glad I did. Great post!
Yes, His grace is sufficient! I love this wonderful reminder that we need to be teachable. Thank you, Janis!!!
I love your devotional. God does meet all our needs. Glad you are doing better.
Thanks Janis. This is a wonderful account of that Scripture in action. The Message rendering certainly brings out the truth of our weakness being overcome by the sufficiency of Christ. And I praise him for how that was fulfilled in your life this past week. ~~+~~
Janis…thank you for the thought today. It isn’t easy but smoothing out our rough edges makes us more like Jesus, Thank you for hosting. Have a blessed day.
I am so weak, but rejoice that He is so strong. I particularly needed to hear this ” I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness” – thank you for your encouragement. So glad you are feeling better, too.
Grateful that God gave you exactly what you needed to meet the needs of the children & show the Jesus. May you get rest today. Blessings!
What a great testimony of Christ’s strength. Thanks for loving those kids and pouring into them. I’m sure it will be a defining moment for them! Thanks Jan.
Love this song by Chris Tomlin! So glad you’re feeling better!