Wallow in Sorrow or Glory in Infirmities? How I Overcame My “Favorite Sin” Temptation

There was a period in my where I was constantly being hounded by a specific temptation. It was (as put one way) my “favorite sin” and, therefore, the hardest thing to say “no” to when tempted. I fell more than a few times into the temptation and justified it away, but I couldn’t help but notice the withdrawal of the Spirit when I did so.

One day, I talked to my husband, confessed to him about my fall into temptation, and petitioned his help. That night, we were reading in 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul was talking to the Lord about his “thorn in the flesh.”

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me” (vs. 7-8).

I understood how Paul felt as he described how he asked the Lord three times to take away that thorn from him. And I thought about how easy it would be to pray and ask God to just take it all away. Take away the temptations, take away the tests, take away the opportunities to fight against my favorite sin. It would be so nice—a blessed release. But that just wasn’t in the cards for me, just as it wasn’t in the cards for Paul. The scripture continues:

“And he [God] said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (vs 9).

I was struck by two words in this verse.

First, “grace.” The Lord said in this scripture that His grace was sufficient. I love the definition of grace in the Bible Dictionary:

“The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ. It is…through the grace of the Lord that individuals, through faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.”

Grace in this instance is a promise of heavenly help when things seem beyond our earthly power. And I’ve had plenty of moments where I felt like an unseen angel by my side would be a great assistant!

Second, the word “glory” especially stuck out to me as Paul said that he would most gladly glory in his infirmities. The idea of “glorying in infirmities” is an unheard of idea in our world. When someone is having a bad day, the usual response is to wallow in sorrow, not to glory in infirmities. But the promise here is that the power of Christ will rest upon you when you do glory in infirmities.

So with this verse in hand, I changed my tactic against temptations. Rather than pray for my temptations to simply go away, every time a temptation floated into my mind, I immediately said a prayer and THANKED the Lord for the temptation at hand and for the opportunity to see the Lord’s power working in my life. After all, doesn’t the scripture say “give thanks in all things.” (Mosiah 26:39).

THIS NEW TACTIC WAS A TEMPTATION GAME-CHANGER!!!!!

At first, the temptations became more and more frequent. But I considered each temptation to be a subtle reminder that I needed to say that prayer of thankfulness. The onslaught of temptations ended up being great practice because soon the temptations came less and less (but they still came), and I continued to say that prayer of thanks.

And you know what? The blessing and promise in 2 Corinthians is real! After about a month of thanking the Lord for my temptations, that specific temptation ceased. It literally stopped. And I did see the power of the Lord in my life in this thing!

Now, I want to let you know that, yes, I am still human, and, yes, Satan didn’t give up tempting me. I noticed that Satan changed his own tactic a bit, and I had to change mine as well to continue to battle against him.

But I am grateful for the solutions that we can find to our everyday problems in the scriptures. I’m grateful for the power of the Lord that can be ours. And I’m grateful for His promise that He will never leave us alone no matter how far we’ve strayed from the path. He loves us. He cares for us. And He wants us to come back—He will help us with that. I know this because I have seen this in my life, and I know that you can, too!