Maybe you’ve discovered yourself so aware of your apparent weaknesses that you couldn’t imagine how your weaknesses could be strengths. Throw in things like financial difficulties, an unexpected diagnosis, or loss of someone close to you, and it’s easy to think that life is nothing more than different shades of failure. Moments like these invite us to hear Jesus’ words to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Our guests this week know weakness in its various forms. 

Natalie Grant faced big hurdles to becoming a successful, award winning Christian musician only to find herself battling thyroid cancer in her forties. Would cancer take away her ability to sing—and if it did, was that really what defined her? Author and speaker Mary Marantz is grateful for what her childhood in rural West Virginia taught her, and carried on the ethic passed on to her from the hard-working logging community where her father made ends meet. In writing her story, Mary hopes that others will find themselves in some of the struggles she had, and that they may also find their weakness might be their biggest strength. 

Links, Products, and Resources Mentioned:

Jesus Calling Podcast

Jesus Calling

Jesus Always

Jesus Listens

Past interview: Emily Ley

Upcoming interview: Janine Urbaniak Reid

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

Natalie Grant 

thyroid cancer

Truth

4Him 

Avalon

Bernie Herms

Jesus Calling for kids

www.nataliegrant.com

Mary Marantz 

Yale Law School 

Slow Growth Equals Strong Roots

Dirt

Pearl S. Buck

www.marymarantz.com

Interview Quotes:

“I began to notice when I would sing, there was something that happened in the atmosphere and I could tell it was deeper than just a song and a voice.” - Natalie Grant

“I think that God is consistently calling us to small steps of obedience. And when we choose to say yes in the small, it's often when people begin to trust us with the big.” - Natalie Grant

“Oftentimes in my own life of faith, my experience is that God asks for the yes before He gives the details.” - Natalie Grant

”I can remember being very little, being four or five, and feeling like I knew God as the best friend. He was the green of the grass down to the very pigment. He was a bird stepping into flight. He was the feel of cold, hard ground. How when you broke it up in your hands, you couldn't forget how it felt. He was color and freedom and fire and dirt.” - Mary Marantz

“We might know or get a glimpse of where we're headed when we're little, but we're not ready for it until there's time.” - Mary Marantz

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Enjoy watching these additional videos from Jesus Calling YouTube channel:

Audio Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PrbuwH

Video Playlist: https://bit.ly/2PsmEkJ

What’s Good? Playlist: https://bit.ly/3i7VUlZ

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