Volume #9 Issue #1 August 2012 - Weak Things

In June, I helped lead a tour group around the southern part of our province.  They really wanted to go up the mountain to where the Tajik people live.  As we ascended these great mountain heights, I noticed that some of my travel companions were starting to look a little green around the edges.  At first, I figured it was just motion sickness as the van was forced to weave and swerve along the winding mountain highway.  But even when we stopped at the lake, there was no improvement in their condition… in fact, a few of them were so weak they laid down at the side of the highway and couldn’t even lift their head. Some of these were strong able body men, who in America run gyms and hold down jobs as fitness instructors.

 

As I watched them suffer from severe altitude sickness, I couldn’t help but give God thanks for my own health and strength.  I was reminded again of how God’s economy and view of the things of this world are so much different than ours.  He “chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27).  He has said that his “power is made perfect in our weakness” (2 Cor 12:9-10).  In the world’s view, these were big strong tough men; and I am nothing but a weak young woman running around in an 80 year-old’s body.  Yet, praise the Lord; his strength has sustained me this summer. Since my last quarterly, He has helped me to make 5 separate trips to the southern part of this province, to visit and share the Word in smaller villages.  I haven’t been overcome with altitude sickness or even a great amount of fatigue. He allowed me to spend more than 72 hours on the road travelling in seven days.  My own limitations remind me of how much I need to boast in the Lord and the strength He provides.