Labels...Stop it!

II Corinthians 12:9, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness..."

Most of us can probably quote this part of II Corinthians. As for myself, I've quoted it many times and usually it has involved a desperate plea to my Savior to help me with yet another flaw I found within me. Who wants to be flawed and have weaknesses? I've learned that we often compare our flawed, weak parts with others strong points often forgetting that each of us has a part that we'd rather part with or overlook.

As I was reading this verse today, I was enlightened and so excited! When Jesus (the words are printed in red in my Bible denoting that Jesus said these words) said his grace was sufficient and his strength is made perfect...he didn't even label it as MY weakness. The Bible says "...perfect IN weakness." Hello! A-ha moment.

Whenever something is ours we label it. My mind meandered back to when my children were in school. How many of us have written our child's name on every school supply at the beginning of the school year? Why? It belonged to them! Webster defines "belong" as "be rightly placed in a specified position." Oh my goodness! Jesus didn't place that weakness in your life to remain there forever. He didn't identify the weakness with your specific name. He has plans for us to grow out of it! Yes, it may be a weakness...but it doesn't define who we are and its definitely NOT ours for the long-haul if we allow him to transform us.

I don't know about you, but today I'm stripping the "Steffanie" label off of every weakness that I perceive in my own life and allowing God to be ENOUGH for me. (I can't fix it, but Jesus can.) Want to join me? Labels...stop it! Put up the infamous Sharpie permanent marker...today is a new day.