4 Practical Ways to Embrace Your Weaknesses and Limitations

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You know you’ve got weaknesses and limitations. But how the heck do you actually embrace them in your busy, day-to-day life so you can start thriving?

Beloved, you came to the right place.

I’ve learned from experience that when I use these four practical ways to embrace my weaknesses and limitations it’s so much easier to embrace who God created me to be (no matter the season in my life) and confidently move forward with passion, purpose, and peace.

Let’s dig in so you can thrive more, too!

What kinds of weaknesses and limitations are we talking about?

Basically, a weakness is something you’re NOT strong at and a limitation is a lack of capacity.

As Christians, we talk A LOT about our weaknesses – all the ways we fall short in walking and loving like Jesus.

I’m definitely not disputing this – we need Jesus every single day!

This post is NOT about embracing sinful tendencies and desires.

Instead, we’re embracing the reality that we’re simply unable to do #allthethings perfectly because we’re not Super Humans but we ARE loved by a super God.

That’s it!

What are some examples of weaknesses and limitations?

A few practical limitations or weaknesses you have may include:

• Not being detail-oriented
• Too big picture-oriented
• Disorganized
• Too structured
• Highly spontaneous
• Not adaptable
• Being tender-hearted
• Being tough-minded
• … you get the idea

These tendencies don’t define your character.

In fact, they’re kind of like shoes – neutral and a tool in your arsenal to conquer your day. (Learn more about this idea here.)

Instead of fighting your limitations, you can embrace them so you can become more intentional with your time and energy… which has a tendency to boost your passion, purpose and peace..

So what could that look like?

What do we mean by embracing our weaknesses and limitations?

Embracing our limitations and weaknesses can be as simple as this:

I struggle with X, so what can I do to be more intentional with my time and energy?

Coffee Chats and Yoga Mats: How to start owning your limitations and weaknesses

By simply naming your struggle, you’re taking a HUGE step toward becoming more intentional with your time and energy.

For instance, if you tend to be a daydreamer and forget where you put your keys EVERY SINGLE DAY, forgetfulness may be one of your weaknesses. You’re not a failure. You just need to learn to work with those weaknesses so you’re not frazzled and frustrated most days because you can’t find your dang keys!

How can you practically put this into action?

Practical Application: Partnering with the Holy Spirit

A (hopefully) obvious way to practically embrace your weaknesses and limitations is by partnering with the Holy Spirit.

He is for you, not against you. He’s there to help you in all things – including your weaknesses!

²⁶… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because^[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27 ESV, bolding mine

Honestly? I have SO much growing to do when it comes to partnering with the Holy Spirit. I still struggle with slowing down enough to look and listen for Him. But even when we’re pulled here and there by our schedules or busy brain, He’s still there.

Everyday life with the Holy Spirit

• Take a spiritual pause to connect with Him through prayer, praise, journaling, and studying His Word – the Bible.
• Pray this simple prayer, “Holy Spirit, move.” (All credit for this goes to the 500 Seconds to Joy podcast!)
• Look around you for opportunities to move WITH the Holy Spirit.
• Seek voices that point you to investing in your relationship with God.

Practical Application: Delegate

An incredibly practical way to deal with your weaknesses and limitations is to delegate what you’re not great at to someone who’s better at it or wants to get good at it.

Not only may this ease your mental load, but also give someone else an opportunity to lead and your community may flourish more, too!

We find two fantastic examples in the Bible of delegating.

Bible spotlight: The apostles learn to delegate

The book of Acts shares how originally the apostles were doing #allthethings and balls were getting dropped – including getting food to hungry widows!

The apostles had a powwow and agreed that their top priorities were preaching and praying – not juggling EVERYTHING the church was called to do.

As a result, they gave some of their responsibilities to others who were better equipped to manage them.

You can read the full story below.

SPOILER: The word of God spread and their community continued to grow. Delegating helped influence that!

6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews^[a] among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. ² So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. ³ Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them ⁴ and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

⁵ This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. ⁶ They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

⁷ So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 6:1-6 NIV

Bible spotlight: Moses learns to delegate

Another one of my personal favorite moments is when Moses’ father-in-law came for a visit and saw how utterly overwhelmed Moses was in his role.

Jethro points out what’s not working and suggests an alternative option – delegate!

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone… ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 

Exodus 18:17, 21 NIV – link to whole story

So, how do you do this practically in your day-to-day hectic life?

Everyday life with delegating

• If you have children, give them chores and responsibilities as appropriate to their capacity. You’re not just giving them tasks, you’re equipping them with life skills, giving them key roles in your family, and much more.
• Use technology to help you do things! Use digital calendars, set timers and reminders, streamline your bill-paying, put a robot vacuum to work, etc.
• Budget for and pay for professionals. A few things that may be worth budgeting for include cleaning services (weekly, monthly, annual, periodic…), yard maintenance (I suck at this!), plumbers, meal services, etc. This could save you dividends in time and energy spinning your wheels.
• In the workplace, strive to let go of things you don’t HAVE to and/or don’t NEED to do. This can be really tricky depending on your workplace, but do what you can with what you have. Are there tasks you can STOP doing for a time? Or lower your effort bar for a time to see if it really is essential?

Bonus! A personal example of delegating

For years as a university educator, I’d been doing #allthethings when my supervisor asked why I was doing it all. Why hadn’t I hired a student worker?

My mind was blown – I’d never considered that a possibility!

We actually ended up hiring two student workers, who together worked about 20 hours a week on things I’d been doing on my own. What?!

Not only was I freed up to do more of what I rocked at, but my super hires also got some invaluable experience to build their careers.

While creating new jobs may not be realistic for you, start considering what you could give to someone else who could do it better than you and/or wants the experience. (They’re not just a dumping ground of your unwanted tasks!!).

Practical Application: Partner with others

Another way you can practically embrace your weaknesses and limitations is by partnering with others.

You already know you’re NOT great at X, so why not team up with someone else who actually does the work better and, ideally, enjoys it, too!

Bible spotlight: Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos team up

In Scripture, one instance of this is when Priscilla and Aquila team up with Apollos (Acts 18:25-26). You see, Apollos had been out passionately speaking about Jesus in the synagogue, but he was missing some vital information. When Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speaking, they invited him to their home and explained more of the story to him.

In this case, Apollos was actively using some of his strengths (enthusiastic public speaking) but he had a weakness – a lack of knowledge. Fortunately, this couple stepped in to help him with this limitation. As a result, he was able to go out again and speak more fully on the grace of Jesus. Yay!

Sometimes others can step into our lives and help us eliminate a weakness. Often, though, we simply need to partner with others to better manage our weaknesses.

Everyday life with partnering with others

• Married? Review together how you can share the load and play to each others’ strengths. Don’t get too stuck on what wives and husbands “should do” – do what actually works best for YOU TWO.
• Roommates? Divvy up what you can based on what you’re best drawn to.
• Team up with others outside your household. For instance, one of my family members is a crazy good turkey cook. Each year he has a standing deal with a family friend that he’ll make his holiday turkeys in exchange for getting to stay at his beach place when in town. It’s a quirky deal but it works for both of them!
• Co-workers? While you often can’t overhaul your job descriptions, you may be able to redistribute some responsibilities to better help each other thrive by using what you rock at and reducing what you don’t.

Practical Application: Make a plan and/or create systems

Sometimes you can’t just eliminate the things that you gotta do but really struggle with – this is when planning and/or creating systems comes in!

After all, you need to pay your bills, keep a good-enough level of home maintenance so things don’t come crashing down on you, and empty tummies aren’t great to be around.

So what can you do?

Bible spotlight: Jesus describes counting the cost

Let’s look at Jesus. One of my all-time favorite passages is when Jesus describes the importance of counting the cost.

One of my favorite statements about the value of planning is from Jesus talking about the cost of being a disciple. In Luke 12:25-33, he discusses the importance of estimating the cost when building a tower and considering his manpower when going to war.

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Luke 12:28-32

Of course, typically taking out the trash has probably never had the same level of hard-core commitment as becoming Jesus’ disciple.

But with day-to-day life it’s important to count the cost. In this case, what do you need to do?

I encourage you to ask yourself, “What needs to ACTUALLY be done for survival and actual thriving?

Developing simple systems can help you stay on track with what actually needs to GET DONE. While the list below isn’t comprehensive, it’s a start!

Everyday life with simple planning and creating systems

• 8 Self-Reflection Journal Prompts for Daily Soul Care – includes tips on setting daily priorities and troubleshooting daily challenges (without taking hours of your time)
• How a Weekly Planning Routine Can Improve Your Life – schedules, meals, tasks, and more
• How to Start a Monthly Planning Routine for More Peace in Your Life – priorities, things to plan for (like gifts!), funtivities, and more
• How to DIY Your Own Sexy, Fun Marriage Retreat at Home – dream about what matters most to you and your spouse – and actually get cracking on those big dreams!
• Why filling your cup is so important (and how to actually do it!) – reward yourself!

Want help embracing your full potential?

Grab your FREE Embrace Your Potential Playbook to learn more about your God-gifted personality and get some practical tips to start living intentionally TODAY with passion and purpose as God’s beloved.

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Wrapping up Practical Ways to Embrace Your Weaknesses and Limitations

As Christians, we have a super source for help with navigating our weaknesses – God and His grace is ALWAYS enough. (Even when we forget!)

We can partner with Him to proactively deal with the things that keep us down and slow us down by owning our weaknesses.

It’s not about coming at it from a place of shame but rather a place of “I can grow with God’s grace.”

A few practical ways to do that are:

1. Practical Application: Partnering with the Holy Spirit
2. Practical Application: Delegate
3. Practical Application: Partner with others
4. Practical Application: Make a plan and/or create systems

These ideas are just a few ways to help you live intentionally with passion and purpose as God’s beloved. Yay!

What’s ONE practical way that you’re going to try putting into action this week? Let’s talk in the comments!

P.S. Want some crazy simple steps to embrace who God created you to be? Grab the Embrace Your Potential Playbook. It’ll help you zoom in on your God-gifted personality and give you practical tips to lean into who God created you to be and live with more passion, purpose, and peace.