August 19, 2024

James 1:12,  2 Corinthians 12:9-10  (HCSB)
12 A man who endures trials is blessed, because when he passes the test he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Ally Jackson
“God doesn’t make mistakes.” Hearing this time and again at church and from family members unfortunately didn’t make it easier to believe as a teenage girl. Like your typical teenage girl, I struggled with my insecurities. I often questioned why I got stuck with a genetic condition leaving me blind in one eye and eyes that didn’t measure up to the world’s standard of beauty. I held my condition in the form of baggage that followed me throughout my teenage years. I saw it as a mistake made by my Creator. I had to grow in faith through my insecurities to develop perseverance and a mental toughness that made it possible to genuinely believe that God was intentional in creating every aspect of me, using my greatest weaknesses to fulfill His greater plan. I can choose to bury my weaknesses as “faulty parts.” Or I can choose to give God the glory by letting the world see what God can do through me despite what I’m not able to do for myself. What about your weaknesses? Is there a particular weakness you struggle with that you push to the side as if it’s in the way? Give it to God. Allow Him to fulfill His greater purpose by surrendering to the power it has over your daily thoughts. I imagine this wisdom takes a lifetime to gain. I’ve got a long way to go. May we always remember that God brings nothing into our unique world to simply go to waste.