The Power of Community in Life's Difficult SeasonsSample

Everyone has a past; risk being vulnerable.

Have you noticed how we love to see raw vulnerability displayed by others but are afraid to let others see it in us?

Vulnerability is defined as exposure to the possibility of emotional, physical, or mental hurt. 

Within community, vulnerability is opening up about one’s weaknesses and failures, admitting that we are not perfect people but broken people in a broken world. Understanding that failure is part of the human experience.

Being vulnerable with your community means opening up, not to wallow in your situation, not because you want pity, but to lift our eyes together to God in hope. We can look together at his promise and look back at situations where God came through for us. 

We come together as a family and cry out to God for comfort, wisdom, help, and strength. We hear each other out and pray together because sometimes we’re too weak to pray alone. For God to pour out his grace, we must declare our weakness before others and before God. (See James 5:16 NIV)

When I think of vulnerability, I’m reminded of Peter, who denied Jesus three times in John 18. He must have felt like such a failure after he carried out the denial that Jesus predicted, it must have been so humiliating for Peter to re-join the rest of the disciples. But if he hadn’t shown up, he wouldn’t have seen Jesus when he appeared to the disciples after His resurrection. In John 21, Jesus appeared to the disciples and turned Peter’s three-time denial into a three-time affirmation of his love for Jesus.

When we admit that we are facing difficulties in our lives and situations leave us feeling exposed, we open up an opportunity for connection with others. When we recognize that we may fail in life and that it is an opportunity to learn, we can stop trying to keep up a façade and focus on the goodness of our God. (See 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV) 

God created us to be in a community, not in isolation. The devil wants to take your weaknesses, tell you that you are worthless and that God doesn’t want a sinner. But Jesus encourages us before he leaves to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Do not let your stories of how God has worked in you go untold. Share with others the wonderful things that God has done in your life! God is a merciful God who wants to use your stories to further his kingdom and make disciples. (See Romans 8:1 NIV)

Get around people who embrace their vulnerability so that you may also learn to be vulnerable within your community.

Going back and sharing with your community after your failures have been exposed may be hard, but remember that when you get vulnerable with others, you open the way for an opportunity to receive God’s grace. And when you grow in your relationships with others, you’re growing in a relationship with God!