One of my least favorite Christian-y phrases is “God will never give you more than you can handle.” Umm. He does. All the time.
He is continually calling us to live beyond our own abilities and resources.
In Scripture most people we read about faced a moment where they said “I can’t do that. No way.” And God said “You are right. You can not. Not without my strength. My patience. My love. My…fill in the blank”
He will never give us more than what He can handle.
On my own I wouldn’t have had the strength to say goodbye to six babies over as many years without engaging beyond my own reality. Without someone to wrestle with, be comforted by and bring peace that surpasses understanding. Peace beyond what I could muster.
Living beyond my limitations isn’t just for the huge moments in life. It is yesterday morning when I found a trail of ice cubes from the laundry…to the dining room…to the kitchen where there was a stool and a still open freezer door. Experiencing life beyond my own perspective can offer patience and help me see creativity in a five year olds response “I was having an experiment to see if ice melted quickly-er on floors or carpet”.
In this world beyond myself, joy and peace and patience and gentleness and self control and love flow.
Some days I welcome the Holy Spirit and move beyond myself with his strength and power. Many days I don’t. I like the first days the best.
Happy Friday! I’m participating in Five Minute Friday.
We are given a prompt- this week was Beyond. Five minutes to write. No editing and second guessing. Then you encourage the person before you.
Read more here !
Beautifully put. I agree. I read that in Katie’s book Kisses from Katie and have never forgotten it. Of course He gives us more than we can handle. Thanks for sharing. Boy can I relate to “Experiments”. Visiting from Gypsy mama.
Dawn
Thank you for commenting and encouraging! I haven’t read Kisses from Katie, but think I need to- I have had several people recommend it. And yes, I think boys and experiments go together!
Very well written.
Thank you!
After 4 years of parenting, it finally occurred to me that I’m not supposed to have enough patience. I desperately need to surrender myself and my children to God each day (sometimes several times per hour). He has enough patience for all the little boy experiments in the world and then some! I’ve been trying to do it all in my own strength. Of course it’s exhausting and my patience is never enough. Sometimes I run out half an hour after we get up… sigh! I’m so thankful that we have a god who cares about us for the little things (ice cubes in the carpet) as well as for the big things (loss of dear ones). I’m also grateful God has been patient enough to teach me this lesson, however slowly I learn. 🙂
I can’t express myself as well as you Melanie. I mean to say God is patient FOR us and WITH us.
Alex- I think you said it beautifully! I’m always saying that I was a patient person, before having kids. Now I have to rely on God so much more! Mornings are our roughest times…
Thank you for commenting and encouraging me.