“What if your greatest weaknesses — the areas of your life you resent the most, the places where you feel the most overextended and unfulfilled — are your doorway to rich intimacy with God? What if your limitations were, in fact, your greatest gift?”
A smile crossed my face when I read these questions on a press kit I received last fall. The email came from one of the PR firms I work closely with, inviting me to review a new book by bestselling author Sarah Hagerty: “The Gift of Limitations – Finding Beauty in Your Boundaries.”
As I started reviewing Hagerty’s new book, her words felt deeply personal, seemingly crafted from where I found myself at the time. I was facing a difficult time, a trial I had faced more than once before, and yet, this time, it felt oddly foreign. The last time I walked that same valley, I soared above it in perfect peace. This time, I felt strangely disconnected and limited. Bewilderment threatened to steal the “peace that surpasses all understanding.”
“Why do I have to face this again?” “I thought I had passed this test.” These thoughts often lingered in the back of my mind as I daily reached out to God for direction and comfort.
When Hagerty and I met to discuss her book, I found myself talking to someone who knew the feeling too well. Our conversation and her book helped me solidify my understanding of why God allows his children — even the most faithful ones — to go through the same trials again and again.
The issue is, will we open our eyes to see the purpose of our limitations?
I write this column at the end of an eight-month-long “limitation,” and it gave me great joy to review once again the transcript of my conversation with Hagerty back in December. The truth behind God’s purpose in (sometimes repeating) limitations is more evident now than ever before.
Today, I write to those who feel “trapped” in an uncomfortable situation — whether the issue is new to them or uncomfortably familiar. I write to those who love the Lord and, to the best of their ability, live a life of worship and obedience. I write to you, fellow believers, who struggle to reconcile God’s goodness, omnipotence, and faithfulness with his allowing these circumstances to pull the rug from under your feet.
My fellow author Sarah Hagerty calls these limitations “a gift;” and this girl, who writes to you and has walked with Jesus through many a valley, humbly nods in agreement.
Our limitations are frequently the place where we come to the end of ourselves and where God’s presence becomes the strongest, his voice the clearest.
The issue is that we often stay in our limiting situation, hectically striving to take control, angry, desperate, or (insert your negative emotions). We may refuse to stop long enough to listen. We may see our trial as a puzzle too complex to solve, especially when we know that we did not purposely take a turn outside of God’s will.
But God’s invitation remains unchanged and found inside the boundaries that seem to keep you from flourishing. He is right there with you, inside this fence, longing to show himself to you in a fresh, evident, and more profound way. His purpose may be as simple as that — to get you to be still and learn to know and worship the giver, not the gift.
As I look back on these past eight months, I can hardly contain the emotions that stir inside my soul. Even though my flesh certainly does not enjoy the pain my “limitation” has caused, my heart is filled with joy as I think of how my faith has flourished.
To worship in the dark is to trust. Something supernatural happens when you raise trembling hands in God’s presence, declaring your undying trust in his promises. Indeed, “worshipping in the dark” works as a divine compost for God’s promises that lay dormant in the soil of our lives during the winters of our souls.
Oh, but when spring comes — when God’s work within you inside that limiting fence of your trial is over — you will witness the gift of your limitation bloom: greater faith, sweeter communion, and a testimony of God’s faithfulness that is worth a thousand sermons.
To listen to Patricia’s interview with Sarah, search God-Sized Stories with Patricia Holbrook on all podcast platforms or YouTube. You can find “The Gift of Limitations” anywhere books are sold.
Patricia Holbrook is a columnist, author, podcaster and international speaker. Visit her new website: www.PatriciaHolbrook.com. For speaking engagements and comments, email patricia@PatriciaHolbrook.com.
About the Author
