In all my life, the one thing I have wanted to be was strong. I don’t want to be weak.
As a child, I cried easily and often. It was not unusual for me to be called a “crybaby.” It wasn’t calculated. I wasn’t able to turn tears on and off. They just hit. My feelings were very easily hurt as well.
As time went on, I realized that no one wanted to be around a crybaby or someone whose feelings were easily hurt. Especially those who had sarcastic senses of humor…and there were many of those kinds of people in my life.
I hated crying a lot. I also hated having hurt feelings…or admitting that my feelings were hurt. So I became good at masking my feelings most of the time. STOP
Now I really am weak compared to the past. He gives me strength in new ways!
Now that I am in my 70’s, I am often truly weak. It may be mentally, emotionally or physically. That’s when I must go to Jesus. We are praying for GOD to help us find things often in our house. I have also prayed for help as I learn to do new skills for which I feel totally unsuited!
I am also learning that GOD helps me. He gives me the strength I need. He gives me strength when I am weak. What more could I ask for?
Thanks be to GOD!
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 of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then,
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.II Corinthians 12:9-10
I somehow ran into your older post.. LOVING A PLACE & PEOPLE LEADS TO GRIEF WHEN YOU MOVE… This is Julie Imbach and I just wanted to say hi. 🙂
hi julie:) i’m so glad to hear from you! i sent you an email. it was so nice to hear from you. talk about a blast from the past:)
Now God gives you strength in new ways! Yes. newness and resurrection are His final answers and fave moves, too. I’m visiting from FMF, parked in #63 and you can find me here: http://www.desertspiritsfire.com/2017/02/five-minute-friday-weak.html
i’m glad you came by leah:) nice to meet you!
Martha, one thing I have learned is this – “Real men cry.”
Great post.
#1 at FMF this weak…er, WEEK.
http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2017/02/your-dying-spouse-275-i-hope-you-dance.html
glad you stopped by today andrew:) thanks for the kind words. have a blessed week.
I’ve also spent a lot of time masking my feelings, trying to be seen as strong, but I think it’s often when we are weak we see our need of God and turn to him to receive his strength so I’m starting to see it as more of a positive thing.
nice to see you lesley:) i had a bunch of computer problems and i have missed everyone:( i agree. we americans don’t love that weakness part of so much of christianity do we? we want to be strong and independent. those are 2 traits that aren’t especially found as part of the gospel or the early church. their power was in their weakness and their inability to do what needed to be done! yet through Christ, they turned their world upside down! pretty amazing isn’t it! it’s part of the backwardness of the gospel where the weak are made strong, the poor are made rich (not by earthly standards), the humble inherit the earth! you can’t get more upside-down and backward than that:) that is what GOD’s kingdom is all about.
I am emotional too, but I like Tara think of it as a gift, because it is very easy for me “put myself in someone else’s shoes.” I hope you have a lovely week. I have prayed asking for help finding lost items, and I am in my mid-thirties. I hope you have a lovely weekend! -Jo
nice to meet you jo:) yes, i also think it can be a gift in that i can put myself in others’ shoes, but it can be a painful gift just the same.
Oh my goodness. Our stories are so similar. I was teased and called cry baby among other names when I was younger. I’m such an emotional being. I’ve learned it’s one of the gifts God has given me. I’m in the43 spot this week.
what i didn’t say, tara, was that i went to boarding school for high school (b/c my parents were missionaries) and that really got knocked out of me big time! crying turned out to be a huge waste of time for me and no one wanted to hear about my emotions…NO ONE!
it definitely affected my life. i didn’t want people to feel unwanted or uncared for. unfortunately, i haven’t been able to live up to that desire all the time, but I have been strongly affected by this life experience.