Mothers

Your Mess is Mine

May 8

Teaching Notes

“...Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But 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. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Sometimes our kids feel like thorns

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh,...”
2 Corinthians 12:7

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.
2 Corinthians 12:10

God gives us exactly what we can’t handle

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9

Rest in the mess (& not after)

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Let God and others into your mess

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:10

Going Deeper

What’s the worst mess you’ve ever made that your Mom (or a mother figure) helped you (or had to) clean up?
Is there any “thorn” in our life that God can’t use to greater shape you into his image?
What does true rest look like for you?
Are you comfortable letting others into your mess?
What’s one way that you can say to the mother figure in your life “My mess is mine?” and take a load off her plate?