To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, 

there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 

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 Cornthians 12:7-10

#1 – My kids fight. A lot. I am told this is “normal.” They are teenagers. But this causes me to NEED God to make it through my day. You see, I was raised in a chaotic, tumultuous household. I have been running from conflict since I left my parents’ home. I can’t stand yelling. I want to run. In order to stay in the present moment, in order to be a Mom to my kids, in order to shepherd their hearts even as they fight about the piddliest things, I need the Lord. I need to depend on Him. I need to pray earnestly for help, strength, and wisdom.

Maybe that is the point.

#2 – Eight years ago, we moved from a Sacramento suburb to a town on the other side of a canyon, six miles down a winding road with steep drop offs on one side and sheer mountain on the other. There is no shoulder to speak of and no place for “driver’s error.” I am convinced that 99.9% of the people that drive this road are from another country, where driving on the left side is protocol. Never mind that we are in the United States where, last I checked, the rule was to drive on the right. So, when the 99.9% aren’t driving in the wrong lane, they seem to take their half of the road out of the middle.  I remember well the first year we moved up here.  I knew at that time that I needed God to safely navigate through the canyon each time we wanted to find civilization (grocery store, Wal-Mart, etc.). I jokingly said that God moved us to the country on the other side of the canyon to teach me to be a woman of prayer. I never prayed so much!

Maybe that is the point.

#3. My battle with food, eating, my obsession with my self and my body continues. Even after all this time of laying this down, laying this down, laying this down…and did I say, laying this down? Even after all this time, I need the Lord desperately in order not to give in to fleshly lusts any time–all times–of the day or night. I am not kidding. I used to wonder when I would be  “normal.” I think it is Barbara Johnson that says “Normal” is a setting on the dryer. Period. There is no “normal” other than that. This IS my “normal.” I need God to manage this struggle. I have to pray.

Maybe that is the point.

There is a theme here.

I am weak. He is strong. Through prayer, I am acknowledging my weakness, my need, my lack and his sufficiency, his strength his provision.

Maybe that is the point of these three “issues,” and the other 39,083 that I haven’t listed here. 🙂

How about for you? Are there weaknesses, struggles, heartaches that might be in your life specifically for the purpose of bringing you to your knees?