Strength In Faith : Jaemin Chun
Philippians 4:13 (ESV)
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Throughout this lent season it made me self reflect by on my life and how I came so far to be thankful and joyful. I wasn’t always thankful for the lord as I had faced a lot of challenges that made me question my love for him. Growing up I didn’t have the confidence or strength to achieve my goals in life. My biggest struggle within myself was that I lacked the confidence that I can accomplish things in life as I have a lot of self-doubts and am fearful of failure. For most of my life, I have been searching for true happiness through friendships and success. However, my success has always been hindered by fearfulness and doubtfulness. There have been times when my emotions overcome me and I just break down believing that I should just give up. Growing up in a family where I felt unsafe and scared, I had developed this sense of insecurity and I have always been afraid of reaching my full potential.
All these mistakes and failures throughout my adolescence had made me doubt my love for God. I felt alone and I became not joyful because I lacked all the things I wanted in life such as having confidence, faith, or even materialistic objects. I forgot about how good God is and how I should be grateful to Jesus. I lost my way of life and in a sense lost myself. However, despite all the mishaps and failures, deep down I knew that God was good, and I desperately wanted to believe in him.
In Chapter 4 of the Philippians, Paul expresses his joy onto others and no matter what you should be joyful. Paul teaches a lesson about being joyful not materialistically but to be joyful regardless of the situation you are in because God is always with you. In verse 13 of Chapter 4 in the Philippians it states, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” No matter what challenges or obstacles we face through Christ we can overcome anything.
This verse impacts my life because it’s a reminder that no matter what failures and fears that I may have, any obstacle that comes in my way I can overcome and achieve my goals through love and strength provided by Jesus. I came to the realization that this is true when I used to complain about my problems onto my sister (who was also a devoted Christian). My sister would always mention how strong I was and how I am still standing and pushing forward to achieve my goals. This conversation that I had with my sister made me ponder a lot about why I am still here. What was my purpose for moving forward? What were my faith and the motivation to move forward? All these questions in my head were found in this verse. I felt lost and confused as I didn’t know where to find my strength. However, after having that conversation I came to the realization that God wanted me to believe in Jesus and through that I have the strength to overcome anything. The motivation and strength do not rely on anything physical or anybody but it relies on Jesus himself as he can provide it through love and joyfulness that I have for him.
This lent season has made me become thankful and joyful for the things that I already have. This season isn’t about me but it’s about Jesus and how great he is. We as Christians should rejoice the lord and his gift in giving us the strength to do anything. This isn’t something that we can obtain easily but rather something we can learn through our experiences and through the Lord himself. In whatever situation we are in bad or good, Jesus is the reason why we are still standing here today. Jesus is the secret to us having strength.