Question of weakness

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I never have understood the idea that scripture promotes that when a person is weak he is then strong in God. I just don’t get it. I come from a family that basically taught that you never show any kind of weakness EVER. I know this is wrong, I just don’t know how to overcome it. Maybe if I understood this scriptual concept better it would help.

What goes hand in hand with this is that my Parents always had to be right. Until I was an adult and married, my parents never, ever admitted that they were ever wrong about anything. I have inherited this terrible trait and have faught hard to opvercome it. I can admit that I am wrong, but it usually takes some time for me to do so.

Also, related to the above two things is my understanding of suffering. I was taught by my parents to never take any guff from anybody. They never let anyone step on their toes and they taught me & my siblings the same thing. I am trying to understand how holy people can allow themselves to be hurt and yet not retaliate in any way, or even defend themselves. I know that Jesus did not defend himself when He went to the cross. He did not utter a word. I somehow have not been able to bring myself to that point. I want to be able to do that, but I don’t know how. I know that it will involve suffereing and surrender, and I am not sure of how to do those things.

I guess it comes down to learning how to forgive others when they hurt you. I know it sounds here like my parents were pretty bad, but that is not the case entirely. They taught me to love, to go to church and to believe in God. However they did not teach me much about forgiveness, most of their teaching was about justice. I cannot ever remember my parents, until I was an adult forgive anyone anything. My mother was always saying I will never forgive this person this that or the other, or, I will never forgive your dad this that or the other…

I want to be tender and understanding. I want to be strong and courageous and confident. I want to temper justice with mercy. However there is a fear that if I surrender and let go of my anger and defensiveness that I will be opening myself to be hurt. AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! Sometimes I feel like I am going crazy!!! Please somebody help!!!
 
Gospel said:
I never have understood the idea that scripture promotes that when a person is weak he is then strong in God. I just don’t get it. I come from a family that basically taught that you never show any kind of weakness EVER. I know this is wrong, I just don’t know how to overcome it. Maybe if I understood this scriptual concept better it would help…
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You asked several questions. I am only addressing the one above for now.

My understanding of what the Bible says when one is weak, one is strong is this:

When one is weak, he realizes he has to count on God.
When one acknowledges that without God, he can do nothing,
he becomes humble.
He willingly opens himself for God’s help.
This openness and humble attitude brings in God’s grace and power.
When God’s grace fills the person, and when this weak person responds to God’s grace, he becomes strong.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
 
Gospel said:
However there is a fear that if I surrender and let go of my anger and defensiveness that I will be opening myself to be hurt.
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That is because you are opening yourself up to be hurt. To me, a person being defensive all the time seems weak because they are so obviously afraid of being hurt. This is why it makes sense that being poor in spirit is being strong in God. Of course it is an ongoing journey, but praying the Rosary is very helpful in developing virtue. Perhaps it would be helpful to remind yourself how often you offend others and God and how much you need forgiveness. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”

HTH
 
InLight247 said:
You asked several questions. I am only addressing the one above for now.

My understanding of what the Bible says when one is weak, one is strong is this:

When one is weak, he realizes he has to count on God.
When one acknowledges that without God, he can do nothing,
he becomes humble.
He willingly opens himself for God’s help.
This openness and humble attitude brings in God’s grace and power.
When God’s grace fills the person, and when this weak person responds to God’s grace, he becomes strong.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Click to expand...
Good post I thought!
If I am depending on myself I am on shifting foundations indeed. If I am depending on God alone, and this is very strong when I know I cannot depend on myself one bit (weak), then I am depending on the source of all things, all Graces and Gifts - I am building my ‘house’ on a strong foundation which is The Lord who strengthens to “do all things”.

God’s Blessings and His Peace…Barb:)
 
I appreciate all of your advice. I think maybe becomming vulnerable is like a sort of dieing to onesself. And that is painful, and involves suffering. I want to become a better person. I want to drop these bad habits and become a holy person. I just don’t know where to start. It is frusterating. At times I feel like I am going crazy. In my mind I can see what io need to do, but it seems like I can never do it. I guess I need to learn how to suffer and and to be humble. In a sense I guess I am afraif to pray for humility because I don’t know what God will send me…
 
Gospel said:
I want to drop these bad habits and become a holy person. I just don’t know where to start. It is frusterating.
Click to expand...
For me, how God has helped me start my journey is to recognize I am a sinner. Going to confession more often helps me see His Mercy. Though, this does not change me to a better person overnight, I have started to see I had always been a proud person - thinking I was always right and did not listen to others. Pride is truly a root of sins. Growing spiritually is a long-life process.
 
Gospel said:
I appreciate all of your advice. I think maybe becomming vulnerable is like a sort of dieing to onesself. And that is painful, and involves suffering. I want to become a better person. I want to drop these bad habits and become a holy person. I just don’t know where to start. It is frusterating. At times I feel like I am going crazy. In my mind I can see what io need to do, but it seems like I can never do it. I guess I need to learn how to suffer and and to be humble. In a sense I guess I am afraif to pray for humility because I don’t know what God will send me…
Click to expand...
Be in Peace…St. Paul said “why is it that I find myself doing the very things I have made up my mind not to do”. I guess if a St. Paul has problems, I can be sure I am going to. Dying to oneself is a very big subject and a part of dying to onself can be not being able to attain that level of holiness which I would like to attain and feel I should be able to attain…it is a humbling matter and humility, said St. Albert, “is the foundation of all the virtues”. Far far more than we can desire our own sanctification, God desires it and is always bringing it into being - although I can get awefully upset because He is not doing what I think He should be doing:D Trust Him confidently…God’s Many Blessings to you and yours and His Peace …Barb
 
I think that when Paul speaks about weakness being the way of being powerful, he’s referring to humility.

Through humility, we through off what is false and see what is.

We realise our dependence on the grace of God and that whatever good we have, does not come from our own doing, but from God.

There is also a saying, of which I’m not sure where it comes from that goes;

“There is nothing so weak as water, yet nothing so strong it can over come it.”

Weakness in the context of humility, is strong.

Jim
 
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