Jerome was a good guy just trying to make life work. With a two-year-old marriage and a one-year-old son, his limits were being tested. He was now responsible for a family, money was tight, his job was challenging, and politics were driving him crazy. 

Then came the weekend he had been eagerly anticipating, because he was spending it with a group of guys who were getting away solely for the purpose of finding their bearings and letting God make a difference in their lives. It was a men’s conference that delivered. Come Monday he was rejuvenated, inspired and back at work, ready to conquer the world.

Then, not really understanding what happened, Jerome seemed to hit an invisible wall. A funk settled in and his mind began drifting toward everything that was dark and unsettling. He began asking himself why he had let himself hope for good things, and wondered if things will ever change for him.  While commuting home after a day riddled with problems a car nearly sideswipes him and he finds himself yelling at the stranger who had just put his life in danger.

Disappointed in himself Jerome wonders how God could work all this together for good. Then he recalls the devotion from men’s conference about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Maybe life was exposing some areas in his life where he could do a better job of letting God be his strength instead of trying to measure up on his own. 

The speaker had reminded them that life was designed by God to be empowered by him. And that, before his ascension, Jesus told his followers, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:(Acts 1:8 KJV) Those followers who had cowered when Jesus was crucified became different people after the day of Pentecost when “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:4 NIV) God’s power in them made all the difference.

Jerome knew what he had to do.  He had to talk this over with God and open up his heart to receive that power. That meant admitting weakness and total dependence on God. After a few minutes of embracing God’s forgiveness and grace, he felt that power surge into his heart and drive the funk away.As soon as he got home Jerome turned to 2 Corinthians 7:7-10 (MSG) and reviewed St. Paul’s take on the matter. He said: 

“Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”