Glory in Weakness

I watched Br. Barnes devotional a second time. It's nice to have it DVR'd. These are significant points that speak to me:

1. Weakness is not sin. Sin is a conscious violation of God's commandments. Weakness is a gift from God (as clearly defined in Ether 12:27).

2. The atonement of Christ does not change us to eliminate our weaknesses. It changes us to accommodate and deal effectively with our weaknesses and to be strengthened by them.

3. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, begged the Lord thrice to take his "thorn" away, but was blessed, instead, to glory in his thorn for the good it brought him in Jesus Christ.

A new thought to me, therefore, since I have the same weakness as Br. Barnes -- fear of looking bad -- is that I will always have this fear of looking bad, but that I will be strengthened as I become more effective in dealing with it. Same for all my other weaknesses.