There’s this question I’ve been chewing on. I can’t get it out of my mind. It goes like this:

What if the display of God’s power in our lives is directly related to acknowledging our need for Him?

I’ve seen the evidence play out more times than I can count.

For almost a decade I’ve watched a friend desperately try to grow her family. Every avenue explored, every expense exhausted. A child briefly placed in her arms only to be taken. So much heartache. An ongoing surrender to God’s goodness in the shape of suffering and sorrow. Last week she welcomed a child into their forever family. Only God.

Another friend was recently faced with a weighty decision, one without a clear answer and lasting implications no matter which outcome won out. She couldn’t reason through it on her own. In her wrestling, God put an image in her mind, a person she needed to connect with. Yet she didn’t know this woman. Not knowing this at all, I felt compelled to connect my friend who was wrestling with another friend who had walked a similar road. Can you guess? The woman my friend needed to talk to was the one I introduced her to. Only God.

Then there was a couple who sat on our living room couch late at night and asked if they could tell us their story. My husband and I leaned in. I couldn’t have guessed the brand of struggle, sin, and despair their marriage went through – nor could I have imagined the story of hope, healing, and redemption they’re living. “As long as you’re breathing, there is hope,” they said. We weren’t personally in crisis, but I knew these words were true beyond seasons of despair. I tucked them in my heart. Hope in hopeless situations — only with God.

Not one of these friends would have chosen their circumstances or written their own story, but in their greatest need, they experienced God’s great power. That is a gift not one of them would trade.

I wish I could reach through this screen and know the unexpected, undesirable, hanging-on-to-hope circumstances you’re living. We’ve all got something. But in my lack of knowing, God knows. He sees you. He is with you. I’m wondering if He’s prompting all of us to ask:
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What if the display of God’s power in my life is directly related to acknowledging my need for Him?
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In other words:⁣
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Need Him big = See Him BIG⁣.
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If I’m honest, I often don’t want to need God. In my flesh, I want to be competent and self-sufficient. I want life to be easy and comfortable enough that I can keep things rolling smoothly by my own try-hard grit. But that kind of life only yields more of me. And that’s really NOT what I want. ⁣
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I want more of God. ⁣
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I want to see Him work powerfully and move mightily. I want that for my family and friends. I want that for you. ⁣
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People ask, “Where is God?” and here’s what I’m coming to believe more than ever: He is in our need. He’s in our lack. He’s present and powerful when we’re ready to admit how desperate we are without Him. ⁣

Yesterday, I finished reading The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boon, the classic true story of a heroic Dutch watchmaker who served people and shared the light of the gospel through the darkest hours of World War II. I wept at the horror and the hope.

Corrie saw with stark clarity then what I’m just beginning to realize:

“Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work.”

Let’s be women who live out of our great need for God so through our lives His greatness can be seen.

How have you seen God’s greatness displayed in your time of need?
Where do you need Him to breathe fresh hope into your present circumstances?

 

He’s present and powerful when we’re ready to admit how desperate we are without Him. ⁣-@beckykeife: Click To Tweet Leave a Comment