Our Weakness, His Strength

There are some small moments of time that, in remembrance, capture a whole season of life's journey. One such moment, a distinctly remembered piece of our family life together, I have been reminded of in recent days.

The year was 1990. I was six years old and the setting was the gathering room of the Bulls Head Oswego Quaker Meeting House where a potluck was being shared to celebrate one of the biggest answers to prayer that we have ever encountered as a family: our brother Luke, after being born three months early at two-and-a-half pounds was finally brought home from the hospital. He had ridden a rollercoaster between life and death for several months and his arrival home was truly miraculous. Mom, especially, was aware of the limitations of her own humanness; she had cried out to God again and again for the life of her son and found no guarentee except that God was faithful. It was truly the moment of her conversion. The gathering room was full of people whom our family wanted to thank for their tremendous support in the little things - the stack of chopped wood we had found in our basement during the cold winter, the food that had been cooked and delivered to our home. Our hearts were filled with thankfulness.

Dad and Mom decided that they wanted to thank the meeting by way of testimony, by sharing their thankfulness to a God who is always faithful. After Mom and Dad spoke of their gratitude to God's presence in time of great trial, the family (six in number at the time) sang a short song by Steven Curtis Chapman with the ever poignant lines, "His strength is perfect, when our strength is gone."

As a child of six, I remember being surprised by the tears that began to flow among those gathered as six people simply admitted the strength of God as the only source of sustenance in a time of weakness. However many times I had heard Dad speak in meeting and share God's heart for His people, this was the moment that, as a child, I saw the message understood on the faces of those assembled.

We all long to know a God who is not too big or too important to stand as Comforter and Strengthener in the midst of affliction. And yet I recognize in myself that the testimony that I least want to offer is that of my weakness. I don't want to see the end of myself and my sufficiency.

But remembering these moments of the past remind me that it is in weakness that God's strength is made perfect. It is when our hearts are wrung dry as the tears flow down our faces, that we finally have room to soak in the Strength that is entirely not our own. It is the witness of this Strength that others long to see made visible in our lives. Oh, let me not be afraid of the trial of affliction, so long as Your strength is made perfect! - Sarah Angell

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength,
But sometimes I wonder what He can do through me;
No great success to show, No glory on my own,
Yet in my weakness He is there to let me know . . .

His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He'll carry us when we can't carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.

We can only know
The power that He holds
When we truly see how deep our weakness goes;
His strength in us begins
Where ours comes to an end.
He hears our humble cry and proves again. . .

His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He'll carry us when we can't carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect. (Steven C. Chapman)