It doesn’t make sense to the logical mind that our weaknesses are an opportunity of any kind.  There is nothing good about feeling that you don’t measure up to what the world expects you to be.  Those feelings of weakness hold no value . . . or do they?

Even as a child it becomes apparent that we must tow the line – follow all the rules – be like so and so – be better – do more – reach for the stars.  What isn’t often taught is that we might fail.  We like the idea of success.  We don’t want people to think less of us because of our inadequacies.  Failure isn’t an option in our world.

But we do fail.  We aren’t always the perfect student, the amazing housekeeper, the brilliant mind, the life of the party.  If we were all the best at everything, there wouldn’t be any need to be the best, would there?

Goals are great, but too often we set our goals so out of reach that they are bound to bomb.  We are in fact setting ourselves up for failure. 

When in our late forties, my husband had a thriving, successful business.  Things were going well for us.  Suddenly the economy took a nose dive and he had to start laying people off.  It wasn’t long before things began to spiral out of control.  He finally had to close the doors to his business and we were forced into bankruptcy.  With no income, we were soon unable to pay our bills and had to foreclose on our home.  This could have been a time of great depression for us – and it was.

At the time you are going through great difficulty, it’s hard to see that there is any good in it.  It’s tough to understand that there are lessons to be learned from your hardships, but believe me, when you look back at these temporary setbacks, you will be able to see that God is walking right beside you.  He had a plan that was better than yours.  He never left you for one minute.  In fact there were times when he carried you.

He will use even our tough times to strengthen us if we trust that He knows what He’s doing.  Out of difficulty, we found hope.  We realized that success doesn’t come from what we do, but from the Creator of all things.  He will use our weakest moments to give us opportunities we never thought possible – opportunities to share His strength with others; to give hope to the hopeless; to let them know they aren’t alone in their suffering.   I call that real success!