Overcoming Weakness, One Push at a Time

by Stephanie Aud 

And if [women] come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto [women] weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all [women] that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27) 

Recently, a beautiful friend shared a thought with me about how birth is a great metaphor for coming to Christ. I have been thinking very intently on this. As, I am taking the elevator to the Lord (see here), desiring to enter into His presence, He has made known unto me many weaknesses. These must change in order to see Him. I can not enter His presence with heart that focuses on and desires things of this world. 

Some days, I get it so right! I turn to the Lord at every hard moment. I can see how He answers as I work, and changes my uncomfortable feelings to love and peace. I feel my heart softening. However, other days are so very difficult. These days I seem to backslide as my one weakness or another is magnified and I find myself almost succumbing to one of very things I was able to tackle with ease the prior day. This process, like labor and delivery, is so very hard yet so very invigorating. 

When we give birth, we push on the contraction. We take a deep breath. We bear down with all our might and can feel baby descending though the birth canal. We can only push like this for so long. When the contraction ends and we take a breath to prepare for the next big push, the baby slides back a bit. Thus, we continue this process to progress. We push and baby moves forward. We breath and baby moves back a bit. Until, at least the head emerges and we only have one final push to completely deliver baby. 

This is also so with working though our weaknesses. As we expunge our flaws, and expose weaknesses in the crevasses of our heart, we exert great effort, pushing through the hard stuff. We can only push for so long. We then take a breath, and seem to backslide a bit. The Lord uses the moments to reveal another facet of our weakness, and energize us by reminding us of our goals. So we continue the process: Push and move forward, breathe and backslide. Until at last, our weaknesses are strengths and we are able to enter the presence of Jesus Christ.