Power in Weakness

 My dad told me the other day that often your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. I'd like to switch that around and say pretty much the same thing except back-words. Your greatest weakness can also be your greatest strength. I changed that because, if you are anything like me, it's easier for most of us to pick out our weaknesses before out strengths.

If you were to ask me what my greatest weakness was I would tell you it's my stubbornness/strong will. Anyone who knows me well probably knows that I'm a stubborn person at times and I have always considered that a bad trait to have, until just recently when I discovered how powerful my 'weakness' actually was when I used it the right way. I struggle sticking with things in life, I get all these "great ideas" and start a lot of things then halfway through that I start another "great idea" and drop the first one. That is something that a lot of people have started to notice happening in my life and I decided that I didn't want to be known as someone who doesn't finish what they start. And that's where my stubborn streak kicked in.

A couple days ago I was sitting at my desk at work and this thought suddenly hit me as I was considering quitting, and I said to myself, "I'm probably the most strong willed person I know and I have always thought of that as a bad thing, but who say's it can't be a good thing. God obviously made that as part of my personality for a reason, and there's a pretty good chance that it's so I learn to stick with what I believe in and not give up when things get hard. I need to stick with this job that God gave me and I need to give it my very best. No one is going to be able to call me a quitter!" So right then and there my whole attitude changed, just sitting at my desk. My greatest weakness, in my mind, had just become my greatest strength.

Now think of something you struggle with, maybe it's stubbornness like me or maybe it's something else. How can you flip that around and use it, with God's help, to change the world? How can you allow God to move in you to empower others to change the world?

Now let's talk about how it can work the other way around... How can your strength become your greatest weakness. I think we all know how stubbornness can be a weakness but what about other strengths? Maybe we get consumed with how awesome we think we are and lose sight of the one who actually got us to where are are now... God. Maybe you start to let the mindset of, 'I'm so much better than all these other people because God gave me this talent and look what they got stuck with.' Maybe we are focusing too much time in the area we strive in and we let the other people in our lives fall. Maybe we are really good at spreading the gospel and loving the strangers around us but at home and church we are letting our relationships fall apart. Maybe we are too focused out bringing new people into the church that we are forgetting to continue to love and care for the one's God already gave us. The list could go on and on and as I'm writing this I am seeing myself in a lot of these examples... The thing is, we all fail at some point and we have to realize that and look to God to help us stay strong. No one is perfect and sometimes our weakness is our strength and sometimes it's just a weakness. But, there is Grace and Forgiveness for when we do mess up and God is always going to be right there to help us back to our feet and keep going.

I hope y'all realize how much power you have to change the world for the better or for the worse, and I hope you choose to change it for the better! God bless you all and I hope you have an amazing rest of your week!

Katelyn