Tex, Brooke and I recently attended a concert with the group Chicago. Before the concert, I saw Brooke reading something on her phone. She told me she was catching up on some of her reading homework for college. She said she was reading about grace. Little did I know God was going to teach me about grace during this concert.
The music was loud, the atmosphere was pulsating, the lights were flashing. We were clapping, singing and laughing. Some in the crowd were yelling. We were having a good time with Brooke. I looked over at her and my heart broke into a million pieces. My eyes began to fill with tears. We were all clapping and she was trying so hard to join in the clapping. You see her right hand is nearly closed into a fist. Only her index finger and thumb work. Her left hand cannot rotate in any direction, it just lays flat. She put her left hand down flat on her wheelchair table and took that disfigured right fist and started "clapping" in her style. Hitting that fist against the top of her left hand. She was trying to sway to the music like all of us, but her body is so stiff all you could see was a slight movement in her upper body. But she was smiling.
As I watched her, I went from laughter to anger, then to sorrow. My eyes scanned the room. Everyone was having a good time. But I began to wrestle with God. "She's only 35, can't you the great physician, the healer, make her physically whole. Why does she have to suffer so?"
The music played on loudly, the light show was awesome and then the crowd turned on their cell phone flashlights throughout the arena. Hundreds of little bright lights encompassed the darkness and then God spoke clearly to me....
"And He said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of
Christ may dwell in me". 2Co. 12:9
His grace is sufficient. He has a plan. Bet you thought I didn't have those type of thoughts. Well remember in Job where satan says he patrols the earth, watching everything going on (Job 1:7). There is an enemy that never takes time off. He wants to cause doubt, inject fear and allow discouragement. Satan does that with me too. But my God is powerful and because I have purposed in my heart to learn His Word, He calls it to mind whenever I need it.
Believe in His Word. Hide it in your hearts so when satan patrols your life you can stand firm against
his schemes. Isn't our God wonderful? Even in a rip-roaring concert He speaks!
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