The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength. 2 Timothy 4:17 The Lord first makes us conscious of our weakness, so that our hearts cry out, “I can’t handle this.” We go to the Lord to ask Him to remove the burden that we feel is crushing us. But Christ replies, “In my strength you can handle this, and in answer to your prayer, I will strengthen you to handle it.” Thus in the end our testimony, like Paul’s, is “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13, emphasis added). We find ourselves living (if I may put it this way) baptismally, with resurrection-out-of-death as the recurring shape of our experience. And we realize with ever-growing clarity that this is the fullest and profoundest expression of the empowered Christian life. Rediscovering Holiness, 236–237 My weakness is an opportunity for Christ’s strength.