Let the Weak Say, "I Am Strong."

I wrote this on Wednesday, so it's a few days old, but the truth of it remains. The truth of God always remains.


God ALWAYS comes through.

I've been feeling pretty helpless recently, for a lot of reasons that I won't get into. But this morning, I was just struggling with it again, and praying for help.

I was reading Psalm 70, and praying especially this verse.

“But I am poor and needy; Make haste to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.” (Psalms‬ ‭70:5)

I have a few things planned for later today, but I anticipate them being a little bit trying, rather than uplifting. I thought about confiding in someone my troubles, but who? And what could they even do?

Then suddenly, I received a text, from a dear, dear friend. We've been through a lot together, and we have often confided in each other when we needed strength, I trust her.

"Maybe," I thought, "she received some divine inspiration to pray for me, or ask how I'm doing."

But no. Her text was a request for prayer. She was having a rough time too.

My first reaction was sadness, self-pity, I guess, that she was not strong enough for me to lean on. My next that I was not the right person to ask, as I had no strength of my own. But something hit me just then, I realized that I was in the perfect position to pray for her.

As someone who was as weak as she was, we could look together for help from the One whose strength never runs out. Verses suddenly came to mind,

“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (II Corinthians‬ ‭12:9‬)

“Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ " (Joel 3:9-10)

The two of us united in prayer, with the Holy Spirit among us, are the strongest possible team, because in our weakness, Christ is strong.

In all the ways I anticipated Him to answer my prayer for encouragement, I never expected it to be through someone who in themselves, could not encourage me. But this is the power of God.

In Which God Spoke Through a Teabag (among other things)

Wow! What to write about! I may be feeling like SO much has happened because we just finished our very first performance of Christmas tour, but it seems like it's been ages since I last wrote.

This week has really been full of small things. We've had a lot of stuff going on, classes and rehearsals as usual, as well as two dress rehearsals, American Thanksgiving, youth group, and the performance this morning. But the things that really stand out to me from this week were lots of little moments in which I was able to see God's hand. (and His sense of humor)

The earliest one that comes to mind is one day when I made myself a cup of tea. We have this box called "Bible Verse Tea," and it's an assortment of different herbal teas, so each bag is a surprise, and every tag has a bible verse.

So I opened it up in the morning, and picked a bag out. 

Now...I like to pay a lot of attention to small coincidences, because most often, I find, they really aren't coincidences at all. So before I even looked at the verse, I was sure that God would lead my hand to which bag He wanted, and that verse would be for me.

The verse was Ephesians 6:10,

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Just on Sunday, God had used that whole passage, starting in verse 10, to relieve some stress about a certain situation I was dealing with. I hadn't even realized it, but I had been thinking about that situation subconsciously, all morning.

That was cool. God knew what was on my mind even when I didn't even realize it, but then I poured the water over the teabag and smelled mint. I laughed. Just before my sister Naomi went back overseas, she and I had peppermint tea with honey several days in a row, and called it "No stress tea." It's the kind you have when you want to get rid of stress.

Another moment which was kind of awesome, was on...I want to say Thursday? I woke up that morning very discouraged. Feeling very unworthy, unlovable, and unable to go into the presence of God. 

I prayed that God would speak to me, and tell me what He wanted me to know. I was hoping He would give me some encouragement, but I was open to the possiblity that He might not. Maybe He would convict me, or show me something about myself that was hindering me from coming to Him.

I opened my bible, and read Psalm 100:4,

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

I felt like He was just like, "Come here. Just be thankful, and come."

And the last moment I'll share with you actually happened last night, or technically this morning.

For some odd reason I've been waking up at 3:11am for the past four or five nights. Last night we got home from youth group at 9:30, and I had to get up at 5 this morning.

I wasn't complaining or anything, but I was praying, just kind of expressing my desire to not wake up at 3:11 again, since I had to get up early.

Sure enough, I woke up in the pitch dark, so I checked my iPod clock. 2:11. Haha.

Well, at least if I move down one more hour, it'll be 1:11! :D

#1:11Ministries #iusehashtagscausetheyrecool

#nojudging