"God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way." - C.S Lewis
Have you ever been so down in the dumps you don't know what to do? I'm sure all of us have. I was taught, ever since I was young, that prayer is always the answer. If you're having a good day, bad day, OK day, you always pray about it. But sometimes, prayer just doesn't seem like enough. No matter how much you pray or how much you talk about your problem with God, it just doesn't seem to work.
A few summers ago, I was living the life. About to enter senior year of high school, I was feeling on top of the world. I had just gotten home from an amazing trip and I really was feeling invincible. But just like any other 17-year-old girl, I met a boy. In retrospect, he wasn't important at all, but just in this story, he is. I met him and things didn't work out. No big deal right? Nothing serious or even really that significant happened between us, but it was the first guy I ever really "liked."
I am not the type of person who would ever admit that I am upset over a boy. I consider myself (very) independent and I don't let frivolous things like that bother me. Come a few weeks later, my life just seemed downhill. I was really letting the situation affect me and I didn't know what to do. Other things were starting to pile up and I was just asking God, Why? Selfish at the time, I know.
Praying didn't seem to get me far at all. After being miserable for a few weeks, I decided to flip open my Bible. At complete random, I opened to 2 Corinthians. After scanning the page, I came across 2 Corinthians: 12-10. That verse reads as "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."
When I am weak, then I am strong.
From the moment I read that Bible verse, my life has been changed. On that glum August day, that verse really changed my life and perspective. I finally let myself be upset over that silly guy. I let my guard down and realized it was OK to be weak. Because when I am weak, I am strong, because of God.
Regardless of what is happening in my life, I often think back to that Bible verse. That single verse has taught me more about life than I could have ever imagined. Every time I am going through a hard time, I open my Bible and flip to that verse because it gives me a sense of comfort. I take comfort in knowing that when I am weak, God still has my back. I can be weak because Christ was, and continues to be, strong for all of us. I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities all because of God and all he has done for me.
God might not always answer prayers directly, but he always answers them in ways you didn't think was possible.
