Serving in Weakness. Volume# 22. Issue # 1 Date: November 2025

The long, lovely golden fall days are the perfect time to visit Central Asia, and so it is no surprise that our schedule has been filled with guests. Some of these were individuals on a survey trip who are considering joining our team and the work here. It is a joy to share with them the vision the Lord has given us for this work, even amidst the occasional bustle of chauffeuring them around to pick up souvenirs and such.

But somewhere in the bustle of it all, one couple asked my still relatively newly arrived roommate why she had chosen to join this team. Her answer stuck with me: "They understand what it means to serve in weakness." Some of our team’s physical weaknesses are pretty obvious, whether my arthritis, my team leader’s debilitating migraines, or his wife’s restrictive diabetic diet. Each affects our capacity to serve here, and they prove daily that it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit. As someone with her own health concerns, this seemed like a good fit.

But the more I have reflected on her words, the more I understand that this serving in weakness must go beyond just physical limitation. In every area we serve, we are too weak to effect the change we long for. I feel weak in leadership skills to direct the media team as I would like, weak in Russian language skills to put all I want to say into words, weak in love to serve my friends as His hands and feet here, and weak in faith to keep praying for the big things I mentioned in my last letter. I know I go back to this verse time and time again, but it is such a daily source of hope for me:“My power is made perfect in weakness. ”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Cor 12:9). 

When I admit I am too weak in and of myself, I lean into the strength He provides, and His perfect power is what is displayed to the lost world around me. Weakness is not just a reason to join a team; it is a reason to rejoice!