The Tension Where Truth Lives

There is a version of faith we have learned to admire.

It celebrates strength without scars.

It platforms the healed story and quietly sidelines the ongoing struggle.

But Scripture refuses to cooperate with that lie.

Jacob limped away from God’s presence.

Paul preached with a thorn still lodged in his flesh.

And neither man was disqualified by what God chose not to remove.

That should unsettle us.

Because it means God is not waiting on your healing

before He entrusts you with purpose.

We spend so much energy managing appearances.

We minimize what hurts.

We delay obedience until we feel more stable… more confident… more whole.

But what if the very place you keep apologizing for

is the place grace intends to speak most clearly?

Paul pleaded for the thorn to be taken away.

God answered—but not the way Paul hoped.

“My grace is sufficient for you.”

Not after the thorn disappears.

Not once the weakness is resolved.

But right here… right now… right in the middle of it.

That word sufficient does not mean comfortable.

It means sustaining.

Enough to stand when your legs are weak.

Enough to speak when your voice trembles.

Enough to serve without pretending you’re unbroken.

A limp changes how you move through the world.

It slows your pace.

It reshapes your posture.

It reminds you—daily—that strength is no longer something you prove.

And that reminder is not a curse.

It is formation.

The thorn keeps us from confusing gifting with godliness.

The limp keeps us from performing invincibility.

The weakness keeps us close to grace instead of drifting toward pride.

We live in a culture obsessed with being impressive.

God seems far more interested in us being truthful.

Truthful about what still aches.

Truthful about what hasn’t healed.

Truthful about how dependent we really are.

God does not use you in spite of your wounds.

Often, He uses you through them.

Because when a wounded person keeps showing up…

keeps loving…

keeps telling the truth…

keeps standing at the podium anyway…

no one mistakes where the strength is coming from.

So if you are limping today…

if there is a thorn you have stopped praying away and started living with…

if you are exhausted from pretending you’re fine—

hear this without condition or hesitation:

You are not sidelined.

You are not behind.

You are not disqualified.

You are standing in one of the holiest places grace can work.

Grace does not wait for wholeness.

It meets us in weakness.

It holds us in limitation.

It speaks loudest where strength runs out.

And somehow—mysteriously, faithfully—

that is where God does some of His finest work.

— Pastor Charles Howse