The surprising place where others will see Jesus

Ministry through weakness. It's a core value of World Harvest -- one that deeply resonates with Steven and me.

There was a time in my life when I felt utterly capable -- ready to conquer the world, confident I possessed (in myself) everything necessary for success.

Now, I think I become more aware every day just how incapable I am .

I don't always like it. I want to think I'm capable. I compare myself to others and wish I had their strengths. But inevitably, my weakness slaps me in the face, and I realize anew that I must depend on the perfect Capability of the One who goes before me

So when I read the following, I wanted to shout with all the volume and intensity I could produce: "YES!" And I wanted to whisper with all the passion and intimacy in my soul: "yes."

"I am more likely to have Jesus revealed to me and through me in weakness than in strength, sinfulness than in purity, or doubt than in perfect faithfulness....

"I come to this astonishing conclusion: Jesus is found in brokenness..."

"The surprise of this brokenness is not just that the Almighty allowed himself to be broken, and that he invites me to touch him there in that brokenness. It's also that my own brokenness - that hidden, ugly, twisted stuff that I had expected would disqualify me forever from his friendship, and that, if it were known, would torpedo all my other relationships too - is precisely the place where he desires to touch me, and it is the place where I am most able to truly connect with other people."

by Greg Paul, in God in the Alley*

Jesus is found in brokenness.

2 Cor. 12: 8-10 -- 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.

*I'm indebted to Ann Voskamp at A Holy Experience for introducing me to this quote, and the book from which she obtained it.