I had one of those weeks this week. Made up of days that were just one of those days. The kind of days that make us want to sit on the kitchen floor and eat cookie dough right out of the mixer.

Know what I mean?

All my rotten frailties were hung up like laundry on a line. All my weaknesses and shortcomings like broken china on the floor–and I was the bull in the china shop, making it worse. Ever have one of those moments?

Do you ever feel like you just don’t have it all together–and maybe–you should? I’m a writer. I always thought being a writer meant that you were really good at certain things, oh, like English and grammar. But I’m not. SO not. My brain works completely in the abstract. I was born of the creative, not the technical. In life, I fling seeds and paint and flour and sugar…and words. I’m an artist-writer, working on all the rest. So when it comes to the right angles and the straight lines of life, and the page, my mind goes blank. Completely blank.Ā If you ask me what a reflexive pronoun or an adverb is, I will probably stare at you like you just asked me how to order a pizza inĀ Latin. And then I’ll Google it.

This is sort of what led up to the eating-dough-out-of-the-bowl incident. Then when I realized that the combination of butter and sugar wasn’t going to fix anything, I asked,Ā “God what am I doing here? Why am I a writer?”

His answer is always the same.

In our weakness, HE is strong. Plain and simple.

That’s right. It’s not about me. It’s about Him.

We see it time and time again in the Bible. God uses the most unlikely people, to do His will. He uses the lowly fisherman to show His power. He uses theĀ prostituteĀ to show grace. The empty vessels to show how abundantly HeĀ is what fills.

God tested me this week with this exact promise. And I panicked. Completely and utterly panicked. I stumbled around like thatĀ bull in the china shop. Because I don’t want people to know about those shortcomings. I’d much rather keep them under my hat.Ā ShortcomingsĀ live so happy and warm and…private there. Then again, sometimes God has other plans. Bigger plans. Not for the purpose of ruing our lives, but for the purpose… of trusting.

I’m so thankful for His goodness: that He so graciously guides us through moments of growth in His perfect timing. Preparing us. Strengthening us. Reminding us once again that it is He who is in us that accomplishes anything. And that nothing is done through our ownĀ strengths.Ā 

Has there been a time in your life when God used an experience with your shortcomings to strengthen you or to accomplish His will?