Welcome back to “Friday Feature!” Grab a cup of coffee, relax, and enjoy today’s devotion! If you missed last week’s devotion, you can read it here!
Kelly Bowling brings us today’s devotion titled, “He Makes You Strong.” I’ve had the privilege of meeting Kelly and her family at several concerts and a Women’s Retreat. They are so genuine and approachable! Kelly is a singer and speaker. She travels with her husband Mike, and their three daughters as The Bowling Family. She spent many years along side her siblings as The Crabb Family. She travels about 200 days a year singing and also speaks at Women’s conferences. She is the proud Mother of three daughters, Hope 20, Katelanne 16, and Gracie 13. She resides with her family just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Give her IG page a follow! @kelly.bowling
He Makes You Strong
2 Corinthians 12:9
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.“
I’ve never thought of myself as tough. I’m scared of my own shadow, I’m the person who locks the doors, worries if I turned off the oven, reminds everyone to wear their seatbelts. You get the idea. I like to play it safe, it’s who I am, but sometimes, life throws you a curve and tough is the only option, or tougher at least. 🙂
I have lived over half of my life on a tour bus, traveling for many years with my family, The Crabb Family, and then with my husband and our three daughters as The Bowling Family. The bus was our second home, a safe place, and I honestly never worried about anything going wrong on the road. And then…..
My family, was involved in a bad bus wreck that left us with serious injuries ten years ago. We got a semi going sixty miles an hour, I woke up in my bunk the jolt of being thrown by the impact. I always say it was like waking up to a nightmare. It tested us on every level, not one area of our lives was untouched by this event. To put it very plain, it felt as if the enemy was trying to take us down for the count. My husband, Mike was airlifted from the scene of the accident and suffered a brain injury and a fractured skull. I broke my back severely, and our middle daughter, Katelanne (also airlifted from the accident) had a crushed clavicle and a deep gash on her face that required plastic surgery. She was losing lots of blood from her face. It took us almost a year to fully recuperate.
Sometimes, life will test you to your very core, and you will be forced to decide if you’re going to crumble at the sight of the giant, or slay the giant. As my Mom told me about a week or two after our accident, “Either you trust God, or you don’t.” It was then, I realized, I have a choice to make, I can say to this test just like David did in the Bible, “you come to me with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord.” Or, I can look at the accident and the physical and emotional carnage it caused and allow it to rob me of my faith, my joy and my peace. It was a fight, that could only be fought with the word of God, the power of prayer and help from the Holy Spirit. It’s amazing how at our weakest moments in life, God truly becomes our perfect strength, and that’s exactly how he carried me through the year 2010, with His strength.
One day at a time, we got stronger, the wounds began to heal, the tears began to dry, and within time the giant had fallen. Victory was ours to have. The first weekend that we went back on the bus to sing again, I realized that thing that tried to destroy us had to fall before our God and His faithfulness.
I’m not sure what “giant” you may be fighting in your life. Honestly, 2020 has felt like one battle after the next for about every one I know. Here’s what I do know, our God is still working all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Our God is still as powerful and amazing as He has always been, and the name of our Lord is still enough of a weapon to fight anything that this life throws our way! Use that name and slay that giant!
I’ve never thought of myself as tough. I’m scared of my own shadow, I’m the person who locks the doors, worries if I turned off the oven, reminds everyone to wear their seatbelts. You get the idea. I like to play it safe, it’s who I am, but sometimes, life throws you a curve and tough is the only option, or tougher aI have lived over half of my life on a tour bus, traveling for many years with my family, The Crabb Family, and then with my husband and our three daughters as The Bowling Family. The bus was our second home, a safe place, and I honestly never worried about anything going wrong on the road. And then…..My family, was involved in a bad bus wreck that left us with serious injuries ten years ago. We got a semi going sixty miles an hour, I woke up in my bunk the jolt of being thrown by the impact. I always say it was like waking up to a nightmare. It tested us on every level, not one area of our lives was untouched by this event. To put it very plain, it felt as if the enemy was trying to take us down for the count.My husband, Mike was airlifted from the scene of the accident and suffered a brain injury and a fractured skull. I broke my back severely, and our middle daughter, Katelanne( also airlifted from the accident) had a crushed clavicle and a deep gash on her face that required plastic surgery, She was losing lots of blood from her face. It took us almost a year to fully recupe
*The Crabb Family released a new album this year. Check it out if you haven’t already!