Just Moms

I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.
— Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was spot on in describing how we handle hard times. We may believe God won’t give us what we can’t handle. But then our doubt creeps in and we begin to think that He may not know what He is doing. What a vicious cycle!!

When you’re going through a rough time, I’m sure someone has said to you – “God won’t give you more than you can handle”. Not exactly what we want to hear that the time. But I like to change this phrase to -

“God won’t give you any more than what He knows you can handle, but He may give you more than what YOU think you can bear”

We often think that we know how much we can handle. And many times we may find ourselves saying “I can’t take it anymore!” We may feel that we are at wit’s end and can’t carry on. But then time goes by and we look back and realize that we made it through. We were able to get through the very situation that we thought would have broken us.

Are you in a situation that you think you can’t handle? If so, let me ask you a few questions…

How is your prayer life? (and I’m not talking about JUST praying for your situation)
How is your Bible time? (besides Sunday school, sermons, and Bible studies)
How is your fellowship time with believers? (beyond church activities)
How are you using your spiritual gifts?
How is your relationship with God? (are you obedient in what He requires of you)

When our prayer life is strong, we will find strength we didn’t know we had.
When we our faithful in our Bible time, our faith will grow more and more.
When we have consistent fellowship time, we will see how God is consistently encourages us.
When we use our spiritual gifts to build up others, we will be built up ourselves.
When we are close with the Lord, we will feel how close He is to us.

Yes, we will go through trials and tribulations. Yes, we will feel like we are at our breaking point at times. Yes, we may even feel like God has turned His back on us. But thankfully how we perceive our hardest situation is not how God sees it.

How are you handing your difficult situations? Are you throwing your hands up in the air and saying “I can’t take it anymore!”? Or are you throwing your hands up in the air and saying “Lord, give me strength to endure!” ?

Let us rely on God’s strength!!

“When our strength comes from God, it is strength indeed. When our strength is our own, it is only weakness.” – St. Augustine