II Corinthians 12:9-10 ” 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.”

We really aren’t sure what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was…it may have been very obvious, or not. But either way, God did not remove it, but rather used it for Paul’s good. This affliction of Paul’s may have never left but that didn’t mean the gracious divine power of Jesus to heal him from within was absent. Case in point, over the weekend I attended a Training Conference on Oppression, Abuse, and Trauma…for you see, I was in an abusive relationship for years, but I’ve always kept my thorn in the flesh hidden from others. For like Paul, my thorn remains… but this Conference showed me not only how miraculous God’s grace is…but the epiphany of what didn’t happen. I didn’t have a panic attack and have to leave. Neither did triggers bombard me with irrational thinking and flashbacks. Rather, I was able to sit there calmly and listen with reasoning and logic. This is truly the healing power of Jesus at work in my life! For the Lord has taken me from a life filled with powerlessness, hopelessness, and distress, to that of strength through Him, for which I am eternally grateful.

Author: kezha1

A Christian mother, grandmother, and retired nurse living in Illinois. Called into a ministry of encouraging others to find their ultimate plan and purpose in life through Christ. View all posts by kezha1