阅读经文 

我们的朋友是一位有天赋才华的演说家，他有无穷尽的幽默感；机智敏捷，言辞流畅，他很喜欢讲话，而我们也喜欢听他讲。我们有幸能够认识他。

可惜，他被中风击倒了。他一向拥有的才华，已经所剩无几；康复疗程既漫长又艰巨，而它亦只能带来有限的疗效。

我定期去探望这位朋友。他终于能够再说话了，然而他却要十分用力才能说出话来，所以他讲话时很大声——但他所说的话却是令人感到愉快的，因为他的话充满恩典。他不喜欢他承受的损伤，然而他却非常优雅地接受了这个新的现实。

每当我探望他时，他总会说：“神的恩典，仍然是奇妙的！”他为什么说“仍然是奇妙”呢？尽管受到严重的损伤和身体致残的限制，他知道他仍然是蒙福的。神怜恤他、深切地看顾他并爱他。他也欣然接受了神的恩典，这一切都在他的生命中彰显出来。他得以结出忍耐、仁爱、良善、恩慈，甚至喜乐的果子！

在他身上，我看到保罗所发现的看似互相矛盾的真理：“所以，我更喜欢夸自己的软弱，好叫基督的能力覆庇我……因我什么时候软弱，什么时候就刚强了。”是的，我们的朋友现在很软弱，但在他里面我却看到基督的能力。在主里，他其实是刚强的呢！

神的恩典确实是奇妙，而且是足够的。

A friend of ours was a gifted speaker with a bottomless well of humor. Quick-witted and fluent with words, he loved to speak. We loved to listen. It was delightful to know him.

But a stroke struck. He was left with only traces of the gifts he had known. Rehabilitation was long and arduous and limited in its results.

I visited this friend regularly. He eventually learned to speak again, but he had to force his words out. So his speech was loud—and delightful. It was full of grace. He didn't like his losses, but he accepted his new reality with remarkable grace.

Every time I visited him, he would say, "The grace of God—wonderful though!" Why "wonderful though?" In spite of severe losses and crippling limitations, he knew he was blessed. God was gracious with him, caring for and loving him deeply. He accepted God's grace, embracing it warmly. His life showed it. He bore the fruit of patience, kindness, goodness, love—even joy!

In him I saw the paradoxical truth that Paul discovered: "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong." Yes, our friend was now very weak, but in him I saw the power of Christ. In the Lord, he was strong!

The grace of God is indeed wonderful—and sufficient.