“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.” (2 Cor 12:9)
We had been planning this particular trip for months. Having just purchased a new trailer and a new vehicle to tow it, we were chomping at the bit to take them out for their maiden voyage. Imagine our disappointment when the weather forecast held nothing but rain for the entire week leading up to the trip, and not just rain, but torrential rain for the designated weekend…Sure, we had a new trailer that didn’t leak, but who wants to camp in the rain?
It was too late to change our plans, however, and besides, we really did need to go out for a weekend before taking the trailer on a long trip, just to “break it in” properly, so instead of revising our plans, we prayed and asked God to give us a good trip, no matter what the weather might be.
Things didn’t look too promising when we arrived at the campground and drove to our reserved site. Imagine our horror to see that it was at the top of a hill at the end of a narrow, steep alleyway. To make things worse, the entrance was narrower than our tow vehicle, and it slopped off to the left into a deep ditch. Yikes!
Having never been extraordinarily good at driving with a trailer in the reverse direction, and especially not with a new trailer and tow vehicle, I did the “intelligent” thing: I decided to pull onto the site instead of backing onto it. In order to get the vehicles lined up so that the trailer didn’t end up in the ditch, I had to proceed onto the entryway very slowly. That didn’t leave me any momentum for climbing the hill, and with my inexperience with a manual transmission, it wasn’t long before my clutch was smoking and the wheels were spinning in the soggy gravel.
Once on top, we would learn that the site was very small, with no way to turn around or to even pull the trailer all the way off the alleyway. There was nothing we could do except back off the site. But how? If I hadn’t felt comfortable backing on to it, how would I ever feel comfortable backing off? Especially with that ditch down at the bottom…And even if we managed to make it off the site, then what? This was, after all, our reserved site!
I decided to put into practice what I preach. I gave the problem to God. Two minutes later a park ranger drove up. I was disappointed when he didn’t just volunteer to park our trailer for us, but he did the next best thing. He told us that once we were off our reserved site, we could drive through the camp and pick any empty site.
That still left the biggest problem, however: How would we get the trailer off of this site without landing it in the ditch? I went to God in prayer. I told Him that I couldn’t get the trailer back onto the road; but that I knew He could. I asked that His strength, wisdom and towing power be perfected in my weakness. I then got into the car, put it in reverse, and started down the hill. I didn’t have a single problem, and two minutes later, we were again on the camp road.
We choose the next campsite over. It was on level ground, the entrance was broad with no ditch, and I had no problem backing onto the site. In all, it was closer to the bathhouse and right next to the camp’s water supply. A much better site all around. As we sat in the trailer, letting the clutch cool down, I couldn’t help but think how much easier it would be to handle most of my problems in life if I would only hand them over to God and allow His strength to be perfected in my weakness.
Whatever challenge it is that you face today, be it illness, problems at work, problems with the kids, or even problems parking a trailer, why not try giving it to God, fulling believing that His strength will be perfected in your weakness? You will be amazed at how easily everything falls into place.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:90)
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Lessons From Camping” mini-series, please click here.)