How can I accept my weaknesses and grow without hopeless self-hatred, anxious disappointment, or worldly sorrow?
The Apostle Paul is remembered as a great man of Christ. But in his own writings, he said, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me” (2 Corinthians 12:7). He asked God to remove that thorn, or the pain and imperfection of mortality. But the Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, emphasis added).
Photo by Ali Naderi
Paul learned to accept weaknesses by embracing them with God’s grace: He said, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). It is a beautiful reminder for us to accept our weaknesses and invite Christ’s grace into our lives.
In his BYU devotional “For When I Am Weak, Then Am I Strong,” Bishop Gérald Caussé reiterates this lesson: Christ’s grace completes us. He teaches, “You will see your weaknesses transformed into strengths through the power and grace of His Atonement.” As we choose, with the humility required, to accept his help, his grace, then that transformation can come. But part of accepting his grace includes accepting the reality of our messy, weak, broken state.
So I acknowledge my own “thorns”—comparisons, fears, projections, instability, fragility, impatience, unkindness, pride, and everything else. For me, embracing weakness with grace means praying and asking God to help me see the truth. It is hoping for empathy. It is allowing him to comfort me. It is considering the lilies. It is accepting all aspects of myself—the truth of who I am—and humbly giving myself to God. It is being willing to be guided, loved, and lifted by him.
When we’re aware of our weaknesses, we have a more magnified awareness of God’s strength. Bishop Caussé says, “I firmly believe that there is much more joy and satisfaction in saying, ‘It is the Lord who did it through me,’ rather than in saying, ‘I did it all by myself.’”
I think he is right.
Enjoy more stories about humility and grace, including one with a turtle, in Bishop Gérald Caussé’s devotional: “For When I Am Weak, Then Am I Strong.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Anna Eastmond, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY MAURÍCIO MASCARO
Find more insights
To study more about how God’s grace enables us to carry on, read Elder David A. Bednar’s BYU devotional “In the Strength of the Lord.”
In “The Inconvenient Messiah,” a BYU devotional by President Jeffrey R. Holland and Sister Patricia T. Holland, we learn what to do when God doesn’t bestow his grace on us in the way we expect.
Look for grace working in the experience and story of Darlene Young by reading her BYU Studies article “Fine, Thanks.”