This post has nothing to do with elements or the Periodic Table. Instead, I wanted to share a scene from the show The Chosen. It’s one of my all-time favorites. Little James asks Jesus why He hasn’t healed his limp.

What’s your “limp”? I think we all have them. Some of us are just more adept at hiding them than others. We make sure the camera of life only catches our good side.

For me, I would say it’s anxiety and panic attacks. At times, they can be so severe that they render me completely incapable of functioning. I hate it.

For the apostle Paul, his “limp” was a thorn. We don’t know exactly what it was, but we do know he asked God to heal it.

“I was given 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.”

2 Corinthians 12: 7-8

The Greek word for “thorn” is skolops, which can refer to anything from an irritating splinter to a large stake that inflicts significant pain.

No matter the size, Paul’s thorn, and whatever thorn it may be for you, can make us feel like we’re limping through life.

“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 Corinthians 12:9

Jesus didn’t remove Paul’s thorn, nor did He heal Little James’ limp. This can be a tough truth to accept. Sometimes, God doesn’t heal or take away our weaknesses.

God sometimes allows thorns and limps in order to bring about a divine purpose. However, He always gives us the grace and provision to carry on. We are not left alone; we have Jesus. His perfect power — the same power that raised Christ from the dead — graciously covers us. This perfect power, resting on our imperfect, limping selves, always accomplishes exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all we can imagine.

We haven’t been left to suffer. We are not failures. We have been chosen to carry our thorns. We have been trusted with our limps.

So instead of a new year’s resolution to be better, to be stronger, to be thinner, to be perfect… what if instead this 2025 we resolve to drop the façade? As that ball drops and a new year begins, let’s drop the pretense.

No more hiding. No more masking. No more pretending to be stronger than we truly are. It’s time to boast about our weakness and bring them to light. The world doesn’t need a stronger you or me; it needs the hope of Jesus. For when we are weak, He is strong.