{"id":1165,"date":"2019-10-23T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2019-10-11T09:26:29","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T14:26:29","slug":"his-grace-is-sufficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2019\/10\/23\/his-grace-is-sufficient\/","title":{"rendered":"HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cConcerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me.\u201d  2 Corinthians 12:8 CSB<\/a>
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Have you ever pleaded with the Lord to take something away from you?\u00a0 I feel like I\u2019m constantly praying that prayer. Lord, take this uncomfortable situation away.\u00a0 Lord take the pain away. I feel like I\u2019m always asking Him to take away anything that makes me uncomfortable.\u00a0 Paul is asking the same thing in the verse above. He\u2019s asking God to remove a \u201cthorn in his flesh\u201d given to him by a \u201cmessenger of Satan to torment\u201d him so that he would not \u201cexalt\u201d himself (2 Corinthians 12:7 CSB<\/a>).\u00a0 People have speculated for years what exactly the thorn in Paul\u2019s side is, no one really knows.\u00a0 Whatever the thorn is, from Paul\u2019s perspective, it is an attack from Satan. The devil is trying to stop Paul in his tracks. Paul begs God to remove it from him, God replies simply.\u00a0 \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness\u201d (2 Corinthians 12:9 CSB<\/a>).\u00a0
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God says the same thing to us He says to Paul; My grace is sufficient for you, My power is perfected in your weakness.  I was asked by a dear friend whose loved one is suffering with a painful cancer this question. \u201cWhy does God allow suffering?\u201d  She struggles watching this person she loves suffer in physical pain. I answered with as much love as I could, \u201cWe\u2019re all suffering, some suffering you can see, but most suffering, you cannot see.\u201d  I have watched several family members die from cancer; I\u2019ve been there when they took their last breath. I remember the dark black and blue circle in the middle of my father\u2019s back from the radiation for his lung cancer.  I\u2019ve seen the suffering cancer brings, I knew when I answered her, what kind of suffering she is witnessing. Recently, another friend\u2019s son made the decision to end his life. He was suffering just as badly on the inside, but no one could see it.  Lately, as I\u2019m going about life, I\u2019m trying to be intentional about noticing the people around me. I\u2019m looking around at the stoplight, trying to meet people\u2019s eyes and smile when I walk past. I\u2019m working on being nicer. What I have started to realize is how many people are in pain.  I\u2019m beginning to see how many people are suffering. Suffering can be seen in the eyes, and we are all suffering some how, some way. But no matter what suffering you are enduring, God\u2019s grace is sufficient. His power will be your strength in the weakness.
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We must follow Paul\u2019s example to receive God\u2019s grace.  We must take our sufferings to the Lord, whatever they may be.  We must lay them at the foot of the cross, trusting that God will get us through.  No matter where the attack is coming from, no matter what type of situation it is, God is waiting.  He has an answer, and the answer is grace.
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\u201cConcerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me.\u201d  2 Corinthians 12:8 CSB Have you ever pleaded with the Lord to take something away from you?\u00a0 I feel like I\u2019m constantly praying that prayer. Lord, take this uncomfortable situation away.\u00a0 Lord take the pain away. I feel like I\u2019m always… Continue reading HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1168,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}