7 Because the things God showed me were so wonderful, I might have become too proud of myself. But something happened and stopped that. It was like a thorn in me. It came from Satan the devil to trouble me. It came to stop me from being too proud.
8 I begged the Lord three times that this trouble might leave me.
9 But he said to me, My kindness and strength is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is strong. So then, I am very glad to talk about how weak I am so that the power of Christ may live in me.
10 So then, for the sake of Christ I am glad to be weak, to have people say wrong things about me, to be poor, to have people trouble me, and to have hard times. When I am weak, that is the time I am really strong, have been acting like one with no sense, but you have made me do it. You should have been talking about the good things I have done. The very best apostles are not one bit better than I am, even though I am nothing at all.