Big Shoes

There’s a sentence everyone hears when they are going through a struggle. "God won’t give you anymore than you can handle." I used to think that sentence was a) trite and b) not helpful. Now I know that sentence is trite and not helpful. It really does no good to anyone in the middle of a struggle to have that said to them. Don’t say it no matter how much you feel led to say it. It’s about as good as when someone at a funeral says "boy, _________ sure looks good/natural/like herself." It’s one of those sentences that you need to have in the back of your mind - something that you inherently believe - that you can lean on. You just don’t need to have it said to you while you are in the middle of the pain. Why? Because you are already feeling that you can’t handle it, and now hearing it adds guilt for not trusting in God on top of everything else you are feeling.

A while back, someone told me "God won’t give you anymore than you can handle." I guess they didn’t know how I felt about that phrase. I said to them politely, "I know. But He’s getting darn close!" Then, on the way back from one of the 40+ trips to St. Louis, I thought about the sentence from a different angle. (One of my "gifts" is the ability to look at things from a different perspective.)

Ok, so apparently every situation you are presented with you should be able to get through. It may not seem like you can, but you will. All right - I get that. Here’s my new take on the sentence from a different perspective. If you are presented a situation, you also have (or will have) the needed resources at your disposal to get through the situation. WHAT??? If the Lord decides to take your wife, the mother of your children... you are either equipped to handle their childhood and your family needs without that person, or God will provide those who can step into the role either temporarily or permanently. It doesn’t mean there won’t be pain, sadness, loneliness, or heart ache. It just means there’s help from God.

I have a hard time asking for help. Even help sent by God.