This may be my new favorite Kari Jobe song, y’all! She’s a worship leader in Dallas-Ft. Worth with a beautiful voice and a deep passion for God.

I’ve featured Kari’s music on my blog before (My Beloved) but I’d never heard this one til today! In it she touches on something everyone can relate to (even if we don’t admit it): Being worn out & needing rest.

Kari sings a paraphrase of Jesus’s famous words:

Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

~Matthew 11:28

How does Jesus say we will find His rest? By coming to Him! It’s as simple as that – He offers us no other formula.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve struggled with resting well. It’s no surprise then that many times I’ve found myself pushed beyond my limits. I know many others reach that point, too! On days when our “To Do” lists are so long & our energy so depleted, it seems we’ll never accomplish everything we need to.

God knows our fragility. He knows we can’t do it without Him. We seem much more surprised to discover this than He is!

Many times I’ve thought I succeeded at something through my own willpower & strength, only to later realize (usually through failure) that what helped me succeed was the grace of God!

His grace is power to endure the days we don’t think we can go another hour – power to be joyful when we’re struggling, broke or sick – power to move forward when facing our fears & doubts.

Accepting grace (Divine help) strengthens us; it doesn’t weakens us. When will we get that?

But there’s a trick to His grace: We have to acknowledge our need to receive it! Grace meets us in our weakness. Like sealing a leaky roof (an issue I’m well acquainted with right now), God provides His pure power to fill in the gap for whatever we’d fail to accomplish on our own.

Some days I feel like the weakest person I know, as I watch others sail through pressures that would make me crumble. I marvel at how some people DO the amazing things they do!

Maybe their secret is God’s gift to them: His grace. Maybe His grace to me looks entirely different because I’m meant to fulfill a very different purpose. I must accept that & acknowledge that God made me less strong than others I know.

But I also recognize a beautiful truth about my shortcomings:

Her greatest strength was her utter weakness.

~Nancy Leigh DeMoss

And biblically:

He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me… For when I am weak, then I am strong.

~2 Cor. 12:9-10

When I let go of my expectations & accept my frailties, I can receive from God the help I need! And I become STRONG where I was once WEAK. In fact, I believe it’s possible to become stronger than the strongest people by giving God our weaknesses in prayer & watching Him empower us supernaturally for the task at hand.

Our weakness just reveals what’s true for every person: That any strength we possess comes from the hand of God. The stronger someone is, the harder it may be for them to realize their vulnerability without His help… but my weakness is a daily reminder of my need for Him. It gives me the opportunity to grow stronger by depending more on Him & having His power PERFECTED in my weak spots!

Do you have any areas, like me, where you keep falling short time & time again?

Ask God for grace in that place. Ask Him for complete rest so you quit striving to reach your goals in your own strength. Then accept His help, and share it with others!

“By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.”

~2 Peter 1:3