I Am Weak, I Am Strong

September 25, 2023
In this inspiring debut, pastor Hewitt delves into the faith that has fortified him since he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. After a doctor found a tumor “the size of a Ping-Pong ball” on a scan of Hewitt’s brain in 2017, the author found a surgeon to perform the complex procedure to remove it, endured brain surgery while awake, and experienced the near-miraculous disappearance of his symptoms—only for the tumor to recur a year later. Desperate to understand “the purpose of my pain,” Hewitt recalled that when the apostle Paul sought healing from the “thorn in his flesh,” God assured him that “my grace is sufficient, and my power is best displayed in weakness.” Paul concluded, “When I am weak, then I am strong”—an attitude Hewitt adopted as his illness spurred him to become more vulnerable with his wife and daughter, to practice a renewed faith, and to compete in an Ironman competition to prove that “with God all things are possible.” Hewitt’s narrative is arrestingly candid, as when he urges himself to “practice the powerful discipline of giving thanks in light of my illness,” and elsewhere recalls how he’d decided to compete in an Ironman “to teach my daughter to go after dreams,” even though he knew he might not live “to see her achieve them.” Christians in search of spiritual succor will be moved.