{"id":2228,"date":"2016-02-16T01:12:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T01:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/?p=2228"},"modified":"2016-02-16T01:12:19","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T01:12:19","slug":"the-power-of-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2016\/02\/16\/the-power-of-weakness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Weakness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/12\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[2228]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1709\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/12\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Nilwona Nowlin-photo\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/12\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo-200x300.jpg 200w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/12\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo-682x1024.jpg 682w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/12\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a>Nilwona Nowlin currently serves as the Administrative Specialist for Governance for the ECC and is a member of the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccda.org\"><em>Christian Community Development Association<\/em><\/a><em> and the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.redbudwritersguild.com\/\"><em>Redbud Writers Guild<\/em><\/a><em>. In her &#8220;spare time,&#8221; she teaches workshops about living successfully as an introvert. Nilwona is a member of the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kingdomchicago.org\/\"><em>Kingdom Covenant Church (Chicago)<\/em><\/a><em> launch team and randomly blogs about random things at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/thedreamerspeaks.com\/\"><em>thedreamerspeaks<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Last month, while listening to a sermon, I found myself reflecting on my weakness and the power that lies within it. Of course, I blogged about my thoughts. I decided to share the post here for two reasons: 1) because I want to challenge you to rethink your understanding of &#8220;weakness,&#8221; particularly in the context of a society (and Church) that still refers to women as &#8220;the weaker sex&#8221; and 2) because the sermon that sparked my moment of reflection was preached by a woman.<\/p>\n<p>The original post is below.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>I am black. I am a woman. I am a black woman. I have chronic illnesses and a disability. I am an introvert. I look much younger than I am so am often assumed to be \u201cyoung.\u201d I grew up poor. I am a great big ball of \u201csocially undesirable.\u201d Since God knew me before I was even a thought to my parents, I must assume that God also knew that I would be made up of all of society\u2019s less desirable parts. Yes, I am also made in the image of God, but society doesn\u2019t often acknowledge (or care about) that part of me.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Believe it or not, all of these thoughts came to me as I was sitting in a chapel service at work, listening to a sermon being preached by a friend and colleague. Her message was based on the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about the many members of the body of Christ. She highlighted how Paul places emphasis on the fact that the \u201cweaker\u201d parts of the body are just as important as the others. It was her emphasis on weakness that got my brain to wandering.<\/p>\n<p>The pinky toe is seen by most as a weaker body part \u2013 good for nothing more than running into tables and bedposts in the middle of the night and channeling some of the worst pain imaginable. However, the pinky toe plays an important role in providing balance to the body. It is the same for the members of the body of Christ (and society) who are on the margins and often considered non-essential. They are valuable in ways that we take for granted or may never know if we don\u2019t embrace them fully.<\/p>\n<p>I embody weakness in a number\u00a0of ways. Because of this, I have experienced pain, shame and isolation. But my lived experiences have made me more sensitive to those around me who are going through similar experiences. It has better enabled me to effectively operate within the body of Christ as a mercy shower \u2013 as the heart, if you will. As I operate in this area of giftedness, I am then reminded of Paul\u2019s words in 2 Corinthians 12, that God\u2019s power is made strong in our weakness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=2228&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nilwona Nowlin currently serves as the Administrative Specialist for Governance for the ECC and is a member of the Christian Community Development Association and the Redbud Writers Guild. In her &#8220;spare time,&#8221; she teaches workshops about living successfully as an introvert. Nilwona is a member of the Kingdom Covenant Church (Chicago) launch team and randomly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19328],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-testimoies-and-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Power of Weakness - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2016\/02\/16\/the-power-of-weakness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Power of Weakness - Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nilwona Nowlin currently serves as the Administrative Specialist for Governance for the ECC and is a member of the Christian Community Development Association and the Redbud Writers Guild. In her &#8220;spare time,&#8221; she teaches workshops about living successfully as an introvert. Nilwona is a member of the Kingdom Covenant Church (Chicago) launch team and randomly [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/2016\/02\/16\/the-power-of-weakness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commission on Biblical Gender Equality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-16T01:12:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/bge\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/96\/2014\/12\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo-200x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jeffo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jeffo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jeffo\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e3a410e3ecd495a15ddb19402571710b\"},\"headline\":\"The Power of Weakness\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-16T01:12:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/96\\\/2014\\\/12\\\/Nilwona-Nowlin-photo-200x300.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Testimonies and Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/bge\\\/2016\\\/02\\\/16\\\/the-power-of-weakness\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Power of Weakness - 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