Living with the thorn

The other day I was reading out of 2 Corinthians 12. It's on Paul's vision and his thorn. I always feel I can identify with Paul and this thorn that he had. Starting with verse 7 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.""

I feel a thorn I have is Infertilty. I still feel the sting and the pain sometimes. We just had a brunch with some church ladies and our pastor's wives. The entire two hours was on babies, children, having more, etc. I was like, really, is there NOTHING else we can talk about. I was quickly reminded of my thorn, even though my desires have changed.

Three times Paul pleaded...through three rounds of ivf I pleaded. Neither of us had our thorn removed.

BUT, I love the last part..."My grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness.". God spoke to me in a new way after reading this. My focus was always on the thorn and the pain and MY control of trying to remove it. I came to realize, I don't see Paul throwing a fit that the thorn is still there, and may never leave...no, he states "Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness (Lord, I can't take this anymore), in insults (who's their REAL parents??), in hardships (we can't afford this), in persecutions (I don't believe in ivf, I can't believe you did that), in difficulties (another bfn). For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Note: I added some comments in ()!

Less of Amber, more of Christ. That is how I can delight in my weakness and live with my thorn, because I am made strong in Him.