High-powered Joy

High-powered Joy

[The Lord] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

I pulled into the parking lot and saw a special transport van parked outside my office. It was unusual to see it there so early, but I didn’t give it much thought. But when my nurse met me at the door, I should have known that my day was going to be unusual.

“You have two new patients,” she said. “So don’t look shocked when you go in.”

I wasn’t worried. I’ve seen just about everything in my thirty years as a doctor. I walked in expecting to see two kids, possibly with some kind of disfigurement. Instead, I found two grown men in wheelchairs—and then I saw what the nurse had warned me about.

Instead of quietly waiting for their appointment, the brothers were racing each other up and down the hallway in their wheelchairs, trying to jump the half-inch molding in the doorway that separated one area from another. The whole time, they were laughing and teasing each other.

My nurse beckoned them down the hallway to the exam room and then jumped out of the way as they raced toward the open door.

The men had Becker muscular dystrophy, a spectrum of muscle diseases that typically strikes males in the prime of life. So, from a medical standpoint, it wasn’t surprising that two brothers close in age had come down with the disease at nearly the same time.

“How did you deal with the news when you were first diagnosed?” I asked.

“Oh, we knew it would happen,” the first one said. “The disease runs in our family. An uncle and a cousin both have it as well.”

“But we know that God is good, and he’s in control of our lives,” the second one added.

I now understood why they seemed to be faring so well despite the severity of their disease, which has no known cure and will keep them in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. Their keen sense of humor, large personalities, and love of life had certainly influenced their health in positive ways. But even more so, they had discovered the truth of Nehemiah 8:10: “The joy of the LORD is your strength!”

TODAY’S RX

God’s glory shines brightest when the weak are made strong.

God, if my weaknesses are what bring you glory, then I pray you will use them today. Fill my heart with joy. Thank you for your grace and for your all-sufficient power.