“In My Weakness”

Posted on by

This song had been ministering to my heart for the past couple of days — well, for the past several months since I first heard it sung by a young man in our church. It is on the Quiet Heart CD by the Soundforth Singers that I’ve mentioned before as well as on the Let Christ be Lifted Up CD by Christy Galkin.

I searched for the lyrics online and couldn’t find them. It was written, or released in 2000, so it’s not new. It was written by Mike Harland and Cary Schmidt. I am not sure whether it is violating a copyright to put them here — I hope not (if so, someone let me know and I’ll take it down). It’s based on II Corinthians 12:9-10: “And he 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. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

When living life for Jesus Christ become too hard a task,
When obedience means sacrifice that seems too much to ask;
That’s when I learn that my own strength isn’t really strength at all,
And I find rest in humbleness when I surrender all.

In my weakness He is strong;
In my need He leads me on.
When I come to the end of all I am,
And I place my trust in Him;
That’s when His strength begins —
In my weakness.

When failures in my human strength have weakened all my pride,
And ruined hopes in fallen dreams have crumbled me inside;
It’s then by grace I fin’lly see the strength of Jesus Christ,
His victory is real in me when weakness fills my life.

In my weakness He is strong;
In my need He leads me on.
When I come to the end of all I am,
And I place my trust in Him;
That’s when His strength begins —
In my weakness.

Update: I am going to close comments on this post because most of them now are asking about the sheet music, which I don’t have and don’t know where to find.

34 thoughts on ““In My Weakness””

  1. Those are great lyrics and by the way, no it is not illegal to post the lyrics as long as you give credit to the author 🙂

  3. Thank you for posting the words to this song. I heard the choir sing this at church last night and it was a blessing to me and my son. I googled the phrase “in my weakness” and your site was the first one on the list. My son has just come back to the Lord and the Lord has done some marvelous miracles in his life. He is struggling with quitting smoking and I thought printing out the words and verse would be an encouragement. May the Lord bless you and your husband as you bring up your sons.

  4. Thanks so much for your kind words, Connie. I’m so glad to be an instrument the Lord can use! I’m so glad to hear of your son’s coming back to the Lord and pray he will always walk closely to Him. I know that must be such a blessing to your heart.

    I thought I’d mention, in case you’re interested, that there are two CDs I know of that have this song. One is called “A Quiet Heart” and can be found here.
    This version is with a full choir — you can hear a snippet of it at that link.

    Another version with primarily a solo, but other voices coming in at different places, is here.

    I also found both of these recordings at http://www.sacredaudio.com.

  5. I stumbled across your post and I’m thrilled to hear that you like the song! I didn’t know that BJU had recorded it until just recently. I was delighted to find that out. I wrote that song about ten years ago during a trial and it’s amazing to me that the Lord would find a place for it to bless people. Thank you for your encouraging words!

    Sincerely

    Cary Schmidt

    • YOU. WROTE. THE. SONG?
      sorry for shouting. 🙂 i was just playing random Christian music under the BJU channel on samsung music, and this came out. it was so beautiful that i had to search for it on youtube immediately. Thank you for this beautiful song. I am trying to look for a music sheet because we are planning on singing it in our assisted living facility ministry. Any leads would be much appreciated.
      again, thank you for this song.

      • No, it was originally written by Cary Schmidt. It was revised later with Mike Harland.

    • I can’t believe I didn’t respond to you all those years ago when you commented! I don’t know if you’ll see this now, but thanks so much for this song. It has been a great encouragement to keep this passage from 2 Corinthians 10 in front of us, a great reminder to lean on God’s strength and not our own.

  6. I am so excited to find your page!! Thank you so much for putting these words up, I really love that song ( the CD is one of my favorites!! ) it has really been a blessing as I struggle through shcool, it is only by the grace of God that I am even in school .
    So I was looking for the words to put them on my blog. God bless you!
    -a college student in Wi.

  7. This song is one of my favorites. I first heard it off a CD I highly recommend by Christy Galkin. You can purchase it at http://WWW.GALKINS.org
    She has a beautiful voice and a God-given ability to communicate the message in a trememdous way.
    Melissa

  8. I have the CD by Christy Galkin. It is wonderful. I wanted to try to find the sheet music for this so that we could sing it in church. Do you know where I can locate it? Thanks, Patti

  9. I checked on their web site and didn’t see it. The music they do have available can be found at http://www.spea.org — click on “Store” and then on “Sheet music”. Perhaps you could e-mail them from there and ask? Sorry not to be of more help. 🙂

  10. Hi there,
    Today I spoke to a close friend who is so down and out he feels he has lost it all and can find no strenght to pull himself back up. I told him, God said when we are weak He is strong, but I coudn’t find where the verse was written in the Bible. I decided to just google it and came up this beautifull words of encouragement.
    Thank you
    Chandra

    • Bible Truth Music I’m pretty sure has it. Also, you could email Emmanuel Baptist Church.

  12. I also love the song. I first heard the it while I was counseling at a Christian camp in North Carolina. It has been the theme for my life (along with the passage found in II Corinthians 12:9-10). I had been searching for the words and music and found your site! Thanks so much for reminding me of God’s grace!! I so needed that reminder tonight. Also, I found another site that has the sheet music or CD’s for anyone that wants it– http://www.bjupress.com

    Thanks for your testimony!

  13. Pingback: “The greater the weakness, the nearer He is…” « Stray Thoughts

  14. Your site came up when I was scrounging to find this song. I’d heart it sung by Christy Galkin at a ladies’ conference…and today our pastor’s wife sang it…and it brought me to tears! I wish it was easier to get a hold of…and more widely known! I’m posting the words, clip with my Memory Monday post tomorrow! I memorized 2 Cor. 12:9!!

  15. great song! WE ARE NOTHING APART FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! WE ARE WEAK AND WE NEED HIS GRACE. i praise Him because HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR US!

  16. thanks so much for posting the lyrics here! =) a friend shared to me an mp3 file of this and i wasnt able to catch all the words and so i “googled” it and found this… thanks so much! God bless you! i am so weak but i praise Him that His strength is made perfect in my weakness!

  17. thank you soooo much for putting those lyrics up!! thats one of my very favorite songs…ive looked everywhere for those lyrics!!! thanks!!!!!

  18. I’ve followed the suggested links to both BJUPress and JWPepper, and this music seems to be out of print. Does anyone know where I might find it currently? Thank you so much!

    • No. I do not play an instrument nor sing solos. I just enjoy listening to the song and singing it around the house. See the comments above for possible places to find the music.

      • Christy Galkin from Galkin Evangelistic Team has a beautiful CD with “In My Weakness” that she and the team has done. You can also look it up on YouTube.

  20. Pingback: Our Valleys Are God’s Peaks | Stray Thoughts

  21. This song for years has encouraged and kept me for years through my darkest times. I’m a 18 year Air Force BRAT, and have seen many dark places and terrible fear. I heard this song for the first time on a CD done by Christy Galkin, a college friend of my mom’s. This is a wonderful song. Thank you for posting the history! I’ve wondered about it before, but hadn’t been able to look it up.

  22. Cary Schmidt writes the most beautiful music, and now his oldest writes too. Cary Schmidt is the Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Connecticut.

  23. Do you have the sheet music? It’s not available online anymore, it’s out of print. I will pay the publisher fee to print it if you can send me a digital copy, if you have it.

Comments are closed.