My Grace Is Sufficient For You
Two years ago I was at Sarah’s Covenant Home in India. That was a month of my World Race that started out really hard and I didn’t want to be doing the ministry I was doing, but by the end of the month I was so sad to be leaving. We were working with special needs children and I felt completely unequipped, but more than that, I was completely out of my comfort zone and did not want to even entertain the idea of being uncomfortable for one moment. Turns out that God uses situations like that to change us. I very quickly started to see that the gospel was alive in that place and I left that ministry with more humility, love, patience, and a new lens through which to see special needs people. Now whenever I think back on my month in India, I remember the times I saw God’s love expressed through the people at Sarah’s Covenant Home. It’s true that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, even when we don’t have the greatest attitude.
For the last few weeks here in Honduras I have been working at a special needs home and it has been really cool to reflect on what life looked like exactly two years ago and the work God has done in and through me since. Two years ago in India I didn’t feel ready to be doing the ministry I was doing and honestly didn’t want to be there. This month I am thrilled to see the residents at the special needs home each day. But there are still moments where I feel unequipped and I get hung up on the fact that I’m not perfect. And sometimes in this season my hangups on my imperfection are magnified because I am in a leadership position. It’s easy for me to be critical of my performance and constantly be focusing on what I could be doing better instead of what I’m doing well. And in this constant striving to accomplish things and improve myself I am blinded to the ways God is already working through me and the ways he is showing me he loves me. Through all this God has been telling me the same thing he told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
And God is making sure I know that his grace isn’t only sufficient for the ministry I’m doing, it’s sufficient for ME. I’m not perfect. I am still working through things. I don’t always have the right answers or know what to do. And that’s okay because God’s grace is sufficient for me. I’m not going to be the world’s best squad leader. I can’t do this out of my own strength. I don’t know everything. And that’s okay because God’s grace is enough.
And so I am going to start saying the same thing Paul said in response: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
Rooftop of Sarah’s Covenant Home in Hyderabad, India. December 23, 2015.
