Day 16 – Weakness – An Advent Journey for the Discerning Heart – Discerning Hearts Podcasts

An Advent Journey for the Discerning Heart:
Prepare your heart for Christ through Scripture, the saints, and the gentle practice of daily listening.

Part Three: Listening Through Trials, Weakness, and Silence

DAY 16 – Weakness

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12.9 RSV


Weakness is one of the most vulnerable places in the spiritual life. It is where we feel limited, fragile, unable to do what we desire, or unable to rise in the ways we once could. Weakness is uncomfortable. It exposes how much we need God. Yet Advent teaches us that Christ comes precisely into those places where we feel small.

Weakness is not a defect in the life of prayer. It is an invitation. It draws the heart away from self reliance and into deeper trust. When we feel weak, we slow down. We become more honest. We recognize the truth that we cannot save ourselves. Weakness reveals our poverty and opens us to receive the grace that only God can give.

In weakness, listening becomes sharper. We lean more into God’s voice because we cannot lean on ourselves. Weakness becomes a space of surrender, a quiet recognition that only God can carry what feels beyond us.

Advent reminds us that Christ was born into weakness so that none of our frailty would be foreign to Him.

Journey with the Saints –

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

“It is weakness that gives us confidence, for the strong have no need of being supported.”
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Manuscript C

St. Thérèse saw weakness not as something to shame, but as the very place where God’s mercy rests most gently. Her Little Way teaches that weakness becomes strength when it is offered to Christ. The weaker she felt, the more she entrusted herself to Him. The less she could rely on herself, the more room there was for God to act.

For St. Thérèse, weakness was not an obstacle to holiness. It was the path to it. She learned that God does not wait for us to be strong. He meets us in our littleness and fills what we lack with His love. Weakness becomes grace when we place it entirely in His hands.

Reflection for the Listening Heart

Today invites you to look gently at your own weakness. Not with frustration or shame, but with honesty. Weakness can reveal where God is trying to reach you. It can show you the exact places where His grace desires to enter.

Do not hide your weakness from Christ. Bring it into the light. Weakness teaches surrender. It teaches patience. It teaches dependence on a God who holds you with tenderness. The listening heart learns to remain open in weakness because Christ is near in every fragile place.

Ask yourself: Where do I feel weak today. How is Christ asking me to trust Him in the place where I feel least capable.

A Simple Practice for Today

Choose one area of weakness and offer it simply to God. Say, “Lord, this is where I need You most.” Later in the day, repeat slowly, “Your power is made perfect here.” Let this truth rest gently within you.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, meet me in my weakness. Fill my limitations with Your strength. Teach me to rely on Your grace rather than my own abilities. Help me trust that You are working in every fragile place of my heart. Let my weakness become a resting place for Your power. Amen.


For more of the episodes of
An Advent Journey for the Discerning Heart with Kris McGregor visit here


Citations for Day 16

2 Corinthians 12.9 RSV
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Manuscript C

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