When we live the story of grace others need to read, they get to know God as they get to know us.

“God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:3b-4, NLT).

Do you know someone who is going through a hard circumstance they’re feeling powerless to fix? Perhaps he or she feels out of control or burdened down with concern, frazzled and weary, unable to rest or be at peace. How can you reassure this individual that God’s strength and power is enough for any situation?

One way we minister grace to others . . .

is by allowing our lives to be stories others can read so they can learn more about God as they get to know us.

Part of our calling to live for Him might include reflecting His strength even in our weakest moments. If something is humanly difficult or impossible, perhaps it’s one more way for His strength to show up.

Is the grace we learn of in Scripture the actual thorn in the flesh we endure, or is it in the strength to overcome the thorn? It wouldn’t take much grace or strength to overcome piddly stuff, but it takes a whole heap of strength-filled grace to deal with the biggies—the thorns.

Yes, God could allow us to suffer only little things, but then He might get only little bits of glory. By allowing us to suffer big tragedies, even though it hurts Him to see us hurting, it gives Him an opportunity to draw others to their own grace-transformed lives.

Just because God gets victory in the thorns, it doesn’t give us permission to be thorns in the lives of others. Heaven forbid! No, we always have an opportunity to be the conduit through which God’s grace flows freely. We are called to remind others there is strength through Him to overcome. Sometimes that’s difficult to do—especially when we need reminding ourselves!

What about when we want to reassure
others going through thorny times . . .

but we don’t feel like we’re in the right position to be a blessing to them? We fear failing them because we don’t have all the answers about grace and we’re certainly not living in the strength of grace. In those times, can we be transparent and offer to walk the journey toward grace together? Can we point to the Scriptures we’re asking God to make real in our lives?

God’s Word has a no-fail guarantee; it will always produce even when we can’t. When we are weak, He is strong.

Don’t worry about having a perfect story. Let others read grace in your flaws, your weakness, even your beautiful messes. Then God’s strength will become evident and they’ll be soothed with the reassurance of His comfort. That sounds a lot like grace.

By Kathy Carlton Willis, Modified Excerpt from Grin with Grace, AMG Publishers (May 2015)