Thinking when God gives you more than you can handel

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When God Gives You More Than You Can Handle

by Rest Ministries in Devotional of Hope

I am unable to get online for a devotional Sunday (today). Please accept this previously posted article. Perhaps God will use it in the precise way He intends today. Bless you, Lisa

By Lisa Copen, this is a reprint from http://thinkingaboutsuicide.com where Lisa is a contributor. The web site is a good place to turn during those rough days to help you remember that God cares about you and is here beside you even when you don’t feel like it.

Over and over I have heard the saying, “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” But what about the pain. . . the grief. . . the depression. . . the darkness? It is more than we can handle. Much more. There are days that we wonder is life worth living if we have to get up every day and fight to be strong? We look enviously at others who seem to not struggle and wonder why God seems to bless those that can handle so little, and curse those of us who are so strong.

As I have dealt with the physical and emotional losses since my twenties when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, I have heard this cliche answer from the stranger at the store to my pastor who was grasping to instill encouragement at my hospital bedside.

Have you noticed how people ask, “So, how are you?” and no matter how badly things are, and how honest you may be with them, their answer is, “Well, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle”? In other words, buck up! Hang in there! Find something to get your mind off of it. Get out of the house. Don’t worrybecause God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.

It feels like they are saying, “Obviously you aren’t handling life’s challenges nearly as well as I am.”

Let me tell you something that may come as a surprise. God does give us more than we can handle. Every day He may place us in the position where the pain is too much to bear. Why? Because we were never meant to do this life without Him! He gives you more than you can handle–but not how much you and He–together–can handle.

Hebrews 13:5 tells us, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” And Philippians 4:13 reminds us that we were not created to do this life on our own. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. We do not hae to be strong on our own.

There will be days when you may wake up and think, I can’t do this. I cannot keep living this way. Why is life worth living if I can’t meet the expectations of others or even myself? I cannot figure out how to get rid of this darkness that haunts me.

There are no simple answers, except to speak to God about it. You were designed to need to turn to Him a million times a day. God does give you more than you can handle because you were never meant to handle it.

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It doesn't really matter how you believe, but I think there is good informational thoughts here in this article.

Pray for Small Victories

Guideposts Editor-in-Chief Edward Grinnan on how to get prayer results by breaking down your challenges into manageable accomplishments.

By Edward Grinnan, New York, New York


Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.—Luke 18:1 (NIV)

I have a good friend who sometimes can barely get herself to leave her house or even answer the phone. Once, during a particularly bad bout, she let over six hundred unopened emails pile up in her in-box. Eventually, a mutual friend went over and helped her go through them. Later our friend told me, “ Her hand trembled on the mouse the whole time. Jenny was just terrified of doing anything.”

Jenny has a kind of paralysis caused by anxiety. What brings on that anxiety no one can say. She is very smart, usually quite independent, runs her own business and has a solid faith. Why, then, does she allow herself to be made prisoner by her own irrational fears?

I've tried to reason with her. That doesn't work, of course, since Jenny's problems are rooted deep in her psyche. So I resort to prayer, asking God to make Jenny better. Yet every time Jenny has another setback, I find myself more and more dismayed. Why aren't my prayers helping? Doesn't she want to get better?

The other day our friend mentioned that Jenny had been making progress, so I emailed her just to see. "I'm getting better,” she typed right back. How? "I've stopped asking God to fix me. Instead, I ask for help with the small things. 'God, help me get out of bed. God, help me brush my teeth and get dressed. God, help me walk out the door.' I stay focused on the next thing. Little victories.”

Sometimes it's the people we pray for who teach us how to pray. Now I pray for the small things too—not just for Jenny, but for myself. When we break down our problems for God, He helps us see them in perspective, which is itself often the most powerful answer to prayer.

Help me, Lord, to see that prayer is a process guided by You, not me, and meant to bring You into every moment of my life.

Edward Grinnan is the author of The Promise of Hope. Now available in audio format!

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That was really helpful.I think our spiritual or mental health is just as important a the physical.I for one find it helps give me a perspective.

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I like to think of it like this, when I feel like crap I just remember a beautiful garden dosen't grow without manuer, God dosen't give us crap, He gives us fertalizer!