Strength Through Weakness

Yesterday seemed to be about weak people being strong…

…Reading about Holodomor. In ‘The Memory Keeper of Kyiv’ Erin Littekin reimagines 1930s Ukraine, where Stalin creates ‘Holodomor’, a man-made famine that took nearly four million lives…

…Stalin’s men arrive in Katya’s village, pressurising her friends and family to join ‘the collective’. Some are taken and never seen again; those who remain are forced to work under extreme conditions. Many don’t survive.

Katya survives Stalin’s Holodomor, and Hitler’s subsequent invasion; through horrific suffering and near death experiences she displays incredible strength…

…Hearing about Overeaters Anonymous. My friend – I’ll call him James – was telling me how overeaters anonymous had helped him. He described his compulsive overeating, facing his addiction, his journey through the twelve step programme…

James talked about attending support meetings, some of the challenges he’s faced, his resolve to change, seeking to make amends to those he’s hurt… He described losing five stone, feeling better in himself and about himself, being strong in his weakness.

…Watching Andy Wall  on local TV last night. On 5 August 2023, Andy Wall, attended the first game of the football season with his wife and two children.

Norwich scored! Andy celebrated, then slumped to the floor in cardiac arrest. Fellow supporters called for help; paramedics gave CPR and defibrillation. Ten-fifteen minutes later his heart started beating again.

Yesterday Andy was at the football ground, retelling his story… grateful for those who’d saved his life… coming through extreme weakness to be strong again.

…Remembering St Paul’s ‘Thorn in the flesh’. Paul suffered with some problem or ailment that he desperately wished wasn’t there. He’d prayed to his God about it, done all he could, but his problem remained. He didn’t have Andy’s paramedics or James’ support group. Like Katya he was a survivor.

His conclusion? ‘I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’

I understand ‘strength through weakness’… but delighting in it? I’m still musing.