Bible Study teacher and author Christine Hoover didn’t realize she would face a severe personal test while writing a study on Second Corinthians. Around the time Hoover, a wife, mom, and Bible teacher, began writing More than Enough, God’s Strength in our Weakness in 2 Corinthians, she and her husband got the call no parent wants to receive.
“Our oldest son was in college in California. We live in Texas. And late one night, he had gone to the ER, and the ER doctor called and said, ‘Your son has cancer, and it has spread all over his body. It’s in his brain, his heart, his lungs, his stomach, everywhere.’ And so, as you can imagine, we were completely shocked,” Hoover recalled.
Their son Will, a college athlete, had always been healthy and strong. The devastating news turned their world upside down.
“He went through four rounds of chemo. He went through surgery. I said, you know what? I want to continue to write this study because it is about weakness and suffering. The themes of weakness and suffering are so strong. And so where I had set out to write really about ministry and service to others, the Lord changed the plan and had me providentially in this book of 2nd Corinthians during a time of probably the greatest suffering that I have ever walked through,” Hoover said.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 and 10, Paul, after he had famously asked God to take away the mysterious “thorn in his flesh,” wrote the following famous line:
“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, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
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This scripture became Hoover’s anthem and helped her not only take care of her son but also keep writing the Bible study.
“Yes, it absolutely did, especially in the Amplified version. I love that verse, and the reason why it became so special to me, and of course, I had heard that verse so much, but I was experiencing it in real time. Every day I would wake up and I would think, I can’t believe this is happening to us. That word, cancer, applied to my son and to our family. And so, I would think, I don’t want this,” she explained.
“And my second thought every day was, I can’t do this. I don’t have what it takes to put one foot in front of the other. And I found myself; I would tell myself I needed to be strong. I needed to care for my family. I needed to have what it takes to care for them. And every morning, the Lord would remind me specifically through the verse you just mentioned: He wasn’t asking me to be strong. He was saying, ‘Bring your weakness, bring those thoughts to me. Rely on me to give you the strength that you will need for this day to go to the cancer clinic with your son to face the uncertainty.’ He’s asking us to be dependent, not to be strong,” she said.
For many people, weaknesses are something to hide or even be ashamed of, but the Apostle Paul tells us to embrace our weaknesses, which Hoover says is not easy for most of us.
“Well, I think it’s our human nature to want to present well to other people. And I think especially in our American Western culture, we are taught to be self-sufficient, to have it together, to depend upon ourselves. And that’s so counterintuitive or so anti-what scripture is telling us,” Hoover said.
‘God Did a Miracle’
Today, at age 22, Will is back at college and running on the track team. His doctors say the chemo worked miraculously.
“He’s a cross-country runner. He actually had a personal best in his event in track this year. So, the Lord has restored his health in some very miraculous ways. It’s hard sometimes to embrace that word for yourself to say, ‘Did God really do a miracle?’ He used medical intervention, and He did do a miracle in my son’s life. So, he is serving the Lord this summer through FCA in South Africa and just doing really, really, really well. So, we’re just praising the Lord still for his recovery,” she said.
According to Lifeway Research, when asked what has most encouraged their walk with the lord, almost one-third of female churchgoers point to Bible studies. Christine agrees and says the lessons God taught her from 2nd Corinthians and writing More than Enough are priceless.
“And I think really Paul is saying, let your faith work for you, Believers. Let your faith work for you where the rubber meets the road, where faith is lived out specifically in these difficult things in your life. I have needed to hear that. I have needed to study that. And I think most women do that, they’re going to face difficulty, even if it’s just the everyday wear and tear of life, to know how to turn to God as our confidence that He is the strength and the confidence we need no matter what the day entails, what the season entails,” she said.
Christine’s new Bible study, More than Enough, God’s Strength in our Weakness, is an eight-week study in 2nd Corinthians. It also has a teaching video you can watch after each week. It’s available wherever books are sold.
Click here for more information on Christine Hoover.
