The Power of Vulnerability

Recently, a friend sent me a video to watch titled "The Power of Vulnerability," by researcher Brene Brown. My first reaction was, "Ok, here we go again."

The command to "be weak" has been a theme for me. You see I like to have everything under control and be strong for myself and those around me. However, a good friend and mentor told me my freshman year of college to "just be weak." She told me to stop fighting for survival and to let the Lord step in. I turned to this Scripture then and still do over and over again: "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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. In the margin of my Bible this is written, "challenge: just be weak." I have struggled over and over again to be weak and to remember that Christ's grace is sufficient for me, and that through my weaknesses Christ's strength is shown.

This 20 minute talk by Brene Brown, was not from a Christian worldview, but it spoke to the very core of who I am. She first said that one of her professors in her social work program told her that in the social work field you have to, "lean into the discomfort of the work." The work being people's and even your own issues, the stuff that isn't pretty and that hurts.
 Brene said that connection is why we're here and what we all want, but shame and fear stand in the way of that all too often. She did 6 years of research and found there are people out there who do not live in fear and shame. They are what she calls "whole hearted" people. This is what they have in common:

• Courage - to tell the story of who they are, who they really are.
• Compassion - towards themselves and others
• Connection - with other people as a result of authenticity
• VULNERABILITY - they realize that what makes them vulnerable also makes them beautiful. They accept their story and the beauty of it.

I started thinking about my story and other people's story. I realized that there is nothing beautiful about our stories if Christ is not the hero, the one who steps in and saves the day. The one who offers rescue, restoration, and freedom. To allow Him to make us a new creation as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "the old has gone, the new has come!" Without Him, our stories are simply episodes of a reality show where we over and over again try to fix our own problems.

As I think of my own story and all the ways I've changed and grown, I recognize that every ounce of growth started with a seed of vulnerability, with myself, with others, and with the Lord. Vulnerability spurred me on and opened me up to allowing the Lord to rock my world and change my life and who I am.

Some of you know that the Lord has called me to international missions, and I am in the beginning stages of heading to the mission field. I am looking at opportunities to focus on mentoring and discipleship among youth and women. More than anything I want to teach those I'm with to be vulnerable with the Lord, the Creator and Perfecter of this world. I want to walk with them as they make themselves vulnerable to the Lord, to themselves, and to those around them. I have realized that we all have to be vulnerable to truly grow, no matter how much that scares us. 

I also mentor several girls in the youth group at my church, and try to pour into the lives of all the students in the ministry. My prayer for them is to be vulnerable, with themselves, with me, with the other girls in the group, with the youth group, and most importantly with the Lord. I want them to get it and to grow. To open themselves up to change and growth. To not sit and be stuck.

As I'm writing this I'm listening to Hillsong UNITED's new album Zion. The song Heartbeats is playing and the chorus stuck out to me as opening oneself up to being very vulnerable. It says:

I want You, need You

I love You Jesus
My heart beats forever
Just to know You
Let go and throw
My future into Your hands
Again

To say, "I want to 'Let go and throw my future in Your hands," is kind of a big deal, and kind of scary if I'm honest. It makes me vulnerable to the Lord and trusting that He will provide and take care of me. But that is my prayer for myself and for others, "Lord let me let go and throw my future into Your hands."

Hillsong UNITED's Heartbeats:

Watch Brene's talk: