“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'” 2 Corinthians 12:9
When my son Ben was 4-years-old, he announced to the air, cutting his eyes in my direction so that I heard, “I want another mommy. I don’t like you.”
It came at a moment when we were 2 inches deep in legos, little people airplanes, and hot wheel cars. It came at a moment when my house did not resemble a home but a junk yard. And as a mother of 3 under 6 and another on the way, I felt very overwhelmed. All my parenting answers from the volumes of authors I’d read flowed through my brain. How could I teach him in this moment what it means to love someone even when you don’t want to clean your room?
So, I took him to Walmart.
“What are we doing here?” he asked, his bulging eyes peeping out under the strands of hair falling in his face. (He not only needed another mommy, but he needed a hair cut as well!)
“Another mommy,” I said, as matter-a-factually, as one can muster under the circumstances.
And I turned around facing the entrance of Walmart to begin the process of picking “another mommy.”
“What about her?” I asked, as an older lady walked out, quickly pushing her cart filled with items.
“There’s her? You could pick her,” I pointed in another direction.
He knew no more what to say than I did. I wasn’t really sure how all this would turn out. What if he actually did decide to pick another Mommy? Then what do I do?
The tears swelled in my eyes as I sat looking forward. Nobody wants to feel replaceable. We’d all like to believe we are valuable, strong, durable, sustainable people. The fact of the matter was, I felt incapable of doing all that needed to be done. I felt overwhelmed by my circumstances and unable to have and do it all. The fact of the matter was, maybe he did deserve a different mommy – one who kept the house cleaned; one who could ‘do it all’ and look beautiful at the end of the day as well; one who had it all together.
Last night I remembered this moment in my life, some 20+ years ago, when I overheard a little boy telling his mommy as he left church, “I wish I had a different mommy. She wouldn’t make me wear these shoes.”
I could tell by the look on her face, she was not only worn-out but worn-down too. And I knew just how she felt.
The truth of God’s Word is, she and I are right. We are incapable. We are worn down. We are overwhelmed. And that’s where God steps in. In our weaknesses, we are made strong. It is when we feel we can no longer do it on our own, that God steps in. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” When we feel at our weakest, God’s power is made perfect.
If I’d only known then how much harder parenting would become, or what the road of my life looked like up ahead, I would’ve laughed at my dismay. It is however in the smallest of things that God teaches us in order that we are capable of handling the toughest of times.
“Mommy, I can’t get ‘nother Mommy,” his voice echoed from the backseat, shaking his head from side to side.
“You’re right, Ben,” I smiled. “No matter what… and I can’t get another Ben either. We’re stuck with each other, huh?”
I don’t know what your life situation is right now. Maybe you feel you are incapable of being who God wants you to be. Maybe you’re overwhelmed by the job He’s given you. Maybe He’s asked you to do something you really do not believe you have the skills to do. God usually chooses us based on our weaknesses because He knows, in our weaknesses, His power is greatest. And in that power, there’s no stopping us.
Call on Him to give you what you need not only to make it through but to succeed.
