Our Father in His infinite love gave us His Firstborn Son to share the yolk of this work and if we consistently depend on Christ to carry us forward, if we faithfully believe He will not tire or allow us to fail we really do become strong in weakness.
1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. (ASV)
Imagine being in a dark room facing a mirror trying to coordinate and navigate around the room and we can only use the mirror as our point of reference;
Right is left, left is right, we have no depth perception and on top of it all the room has poor lighting! Of course we will stumble, make mistakes, fall, etc. If only we had a Voice who we could totally trust to lead us out of this distressing situation.....
Thank God we do.
joe,
i am sometimes just, well, amazed to see God work through one of the saints to build up the others. the first statement i have shown which i pulled from your post was one that Abba Father has specifically spoken to me through. the words that He gave you, stating that if we stay constant in our dependence on Christ and hold fast to our faith that He will not leave us through our trials, then he WILL enable us to grow stronger (in Spirit) by the experience of our weaknesses.
AND THEN, the scripture reference you provided about only seeing now as if we are looking through a mirror, darkly, and the image you provided of being in a dark room with only a mirror as our point of reference for trying to navigate around the room, how we would stumble and fall and how it would be help to have someone who could see through the darkness and give us voice commands to help us find the way out of that dark room, and thank God we do have a Voice. i mean, that image you presented just blew me away because it shed Light on way more than i had ever been shown in that scripture before. the dark room (this world), only a mirror as our point of reference (our carnal mind), needing someone to give us commands for guidance (His Voice/His commandments) to show us the way out of the dark (He is the Way), and to bring us back into the light so we can see and be seen (He is the Light and through that Light we will be able to see Him as He has seen us).
thank you joe, and thank You my dear Father and Brother Christ Jesus!
claudia