Kathi Pelton
I would love to say that my life’s journey is marked by great personal strength but quite the opposite is true. It has been marked by personal weaknesses where God showed up and made His strength manifest time and time again.
It is not out of self loathing or insecurity but I am very aware that my life has been a living testimony of one verse,
“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” 1 Corinthians 1:27
My life in Christ literally was birthed in His sovereignty. He chased after me and would not let me go until I surrendered to His unconditional love and passionate pursuit. Then, time and time again in my early years of walking with Him, He miraculously kept me safe from my own wayward heart as I was taught by His Spirit how to walk in honor and integrity (even while my character was far from displaying those qualities). Like a child learning to walk or a teenager learning to love, He was patient and forgiving…and so happy to manifest His strength in the midst of my weaknesses.
Now, thirty-five years later, I stand in awe at how His strength is proven true in the midst of my human weaknesses. My character has developed and changed due to His amazing grace but somehow I’m always vividly aware that all that I’ve been given and all the opportunities that have come my way have little to do with my strengths and everything to do with God making known His strength in the midst of my weaknesses.
In the company of the amazing men and women that I have been given the honor to walk in relationship with, I often feel like the “odd man out”. I am loved, received and shown such honor and yet I know that my only qualification for the platform or position that I’ve been given is “my weakness.” I have learned to surrender to His love, to embrace my weakness by understanding that it is only in absolute dependency that His strength and sovereignty will been proven true once again. Surrender is my life song and the awe of His kindness has become my focus.
Do not despise who He made you to be. He creates every vessel differently. As much as I’d love to be an intricate vessel that stands out in a crowd, I’d rather embrace that He made me a simple vessel that causes Him to stand out in a crowd.
Every person; from the genius to the one who struggles to read, from one who turns heads due to their physical beauty to the one who has always been in invisible…all were created with great purpose. Each one has weaknesses that offer them the opportunity to be ushered into the place of surrender and dependency. It is in that place that our God shines the brightest and it is there that the glory of the Lord is made manifest.
“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. 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
May His power rest upon you in the place that your human weakness has tried to disqualify you. In every weakness, every hardship, every insult and accusation…may His power and strength become “Christ in you…the hope of glory” so that many may come to know Him and experience His grace.
“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27
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