Some days we feel very imperfect.  Other days we feel like we are causing more harm than good.  Sometimes we just throw up our hands and say we have had enough conflict for now.  Today is one of those days for me.  I feel very flawed with little patience and with no desire to be helpful.  And in this moment of weakness, I heard God say, “Mary Ann, you are OK.  My grace is sufficient for you.”  So I looked up 2 Corinthians 12 where I know that verse is located.  Here is what I read that really stood out (2 Corinthians 12: 6 – 10 NIV)–

⁶ Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ 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.”

God says, “FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.”  Somehow, I had forgotten the rest of the verse.  This is not the first time 2 Corinthians 12:9 has been placed on my heart in the last year.  I know firsthand that God’s power is made perfect in weakness.  I watched Mom do more good work in the last year of her life than she had in a long time.  God was made perfect in her weakness.  And so, I thank God for my impatience, intolerance, inabilities today.  They were frustrating and perhaps hurtful to those around me, but He wanted to get my attention today….and He got it.   Thank you, God, for reminding me that your power is made perfect in my weaknesses.