We see this mystery throughout the Bible. When Jacob wrestled with God, he left both blessed and wounded, walking with a limp for the rest of his life (Genesis 32:30–31). The encounter did not remove his weakness—it marked him with it. Yet that very wound became evidence that he had met God. In the same way, the Samaritan woman at the well encountered Jesus in the middle of her broken story, not after she had fixed it. Jesus named her past truthfully, yet offered her living water without condemnation (John 4:14, 18). She was fully known and still invited into grace. Again and again, Scripture shows that God does not draw back from our broken places; He enters them.

The apostle Paul expresses this most clearly when he writes about God saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Rather than removing Paul’s struggle, God met him within it, revealing that His strength is not dependent on our ability, but on our surrender. Agnes Sanford’s understanding of healing aligns with this truth: God’s power flows into the places where we stop striving and begin to depend on Him. Our weakness does not disqualify us—it creates space for His grace.

This is the mystery: we expect God to work through strength, but He works through surrender; we expect Him to use the whole, but He chooses the broken. Grace is not the absence of weakness, but the presence of God within it. “For it is by grace you have been saved… it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). We do not earn it by becoming better—we receive it by being honest. The places we are most tempted to hide may be the very places where God wants to meet us. In our brokenness, we are not beyond His reach—we are exactly where His grace can begin.

Sources

• The Holy Bible (ESV/NIV), including Psalm 34:18; Genesis 32:30–31; John 4:14, 18; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Ephesians 2:8
• Agnes Sanford, The Healing Light