2 Cor. 12: 9-10
‘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.’
Hello All, for those of you who do not know me, I am Anastasia Wallace and have been attending H2O for 4 years. Some of you may recognize me from serving with Splash in either the nursery or with the 3 & 4 year old class. (Which, by the way, all of your children are wonderful and I love serving and taking care of with them)
Most of you do not know my story, though. I am from Pensacola, FL and lived there my whole life until I moved to Orlando to attend UCF in the fall of 2005. I grew up with a very dysfunctional family, one that involved poverty, drugs, and alcohol. To spare all of the details of growing up in such a family, at age 13 I was placed in a permanent foster home with my 2 younger sisters (aged 4 years old and 16 months old at the time). It was at this time that I became a Christian, because this was the first time I had truly been shown the love of God and knew that he was my true savior because he had protected me over the years and had given me to a family that loved Him and me. And though my life made a turn for the better, this obviously was not the end of hardships and difficulties in my life. I was glad to have had the opportunity to go to college and be the first of my biological family to graduate high school and attend college. But I will admit that college was not easy at first and being on my own for the first time brought its own temptations and struggles to overcome. I am also glad to say that I was able to mature spiritually throughout my college years. Once I graduated last August with my bachelor’s in Health Service Administration, I was again faced with more hardship… trying to find a job… At some points, while the months rolled past graduation I felt an overwhelming sense of depression and I am glad to say that I too was able to overcome this, knowing that God’s grace is sufficient and that I could make it through, that He had brought me this far and would not let me go. Thankfully, after literally a hundred times of filling out applications and sending out my resume, I was granted an interview with Winnie Palmer Hospital (which took them 1 very depressing month to get back to me) and I finally got a big girl job! This was once again proof that when I am weak, then I am strong. Each time depression loomed its ugly head over me, I just prayed that I would have the strength to keep going, to not give up, and trust that God had a greater plan.
Though I too struggle with perfection and not wanting anyone to see even the smallest imperfections or sins in my life, I find a sense of relief in knowing that I am not perfect and that God only asks that I repent. But besides sin, this world also throws us our fair share of insults, persecutions, and difficulties. And what more can we do with these? I cannot repent to be relinquished from a hardship. Prayer is what I turn to get me through these times, but I will also be glad in them. Like in the verse (2 Cor. 12:9-10) Paul has elaborated on what Jesus said, in short God’s grace is sufficient for me and when I am weak, then I am strong.
Prayer Requests
-Prayer for my foster family, the Barlow’s, through these financially difficult times. My 2 younger sisters still live with them and the Barlow’s have never received any financial assistance for taking care of them. These past 2 years have been especially difficult for them due to job loss.
-Prayer for my boyfriend, Rick, who is in school right now and seeking employment as well as for my roommate and BFF Stephanie, who is a recent UCF graduate and seeking a big girl job.
-So the first 2 prayer requests were my own selfish requests, but truly my biggest prayer request is for the economy across our country and for all the people of our great nation who are out of work and struggling to get by.