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Key Bible Verses: Each time He said, "My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Bonus Reading: 2 Cor. 12:7b–10

From then on I changed my prayer. I continued to ask for my face to be healed, but I also prayed that if that wasn't part of God's will for me, then I wished for grace to accept my situation and to serve where He could use me.

To my total amazement, the paralysis turned out to be a complete blessing from God. I had to attend speech therapy class in order to learn how to speak clearly again. I was given tips on vocal projection, enunciation, delivery, and body language. Soon, I not only learned how to speak again, I developed into a public orator. Thanks to that training years ago, I now deliver more than 80 major speeches a year at colleges, universities, and corporations. I also teach a Sunday school class each week and make numerous guest appearances on radio and television stations.

In the years since 1974 I've regained the feeling and most of the motor movement of my face. My eyelids and left cheek still show evidences of the original nerve damage, however. But I never think about it. If people ever ask me about it, I tell them, "It was something that seemed to start out bad, but through the power of prayer it wound up working to my good."

—Dennis Hensley in Man to Man

My Response: A time when God brought good out of apparent calamity for me was…

Thought to Apply: Thank the good God for having visited you through suffering; if we knew the value of suffering, we would ask for it.—BROTHER ANDRÉ (French Canadian monastic)

Adapted from Man to Man (Kregel, 2003) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

I realize, Lord, that You don't let trials through on a whim. So help me gain the benefits You intend from them.

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