Old Posts: More Than You Can Handle

This is the last post I published on my old blog. Just like all of my old posts, it's even more relevant today with the threat of Covid-19 looming on the periphery of our personal worlds. It's also very poignant for me personally because of the loss of my husband. In fact, it was this very post that made me want to restart my blog because I felt like it would be selfish to read these things and never share them again. Hopefully they will help you as much as they are helping me.

Life is hard. I know that's not some groundbreaking revelation, it's common knowledge because we live in a broken and fallen world. As a whole, our world is so full of pain, misery, and death that to think on it too long would leave you completely paralyzed with fear and dread.

But let's face it, most of us live in our own personal mini-universe where we and the ones that we love are at the center. The things that go on outside of our world are just like satellites, threatening to collide with us all the time but mostly staying in their own orbit. So what happens when that overwhelming suffering that exists in the world at large looms on the horizon our own personal world?

When you are faced with hard times, be they as simple as financial troubles or as devastating as the loss of a loved one, it can seem like everything is imploding. Stress, worry, fear and despair suffocate you, but the worst part of it all are the questions that consume your mind until you feel like you're losing it.

Why is this happening? Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Am I just unlucky or does God hate me?

The Bible actually gives us an answer to the last question. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

We always hear people say that God will never give us more than we can handle, and this verse is the origin of that saying. But when you're in the midst of your own personal tragedy, those words seem empty and meaningless.

You feel like it is more than you can stand and that's there's no way that you can come out on the other end. You feel like there's no way God could have thought you were strong enough because you're not strong enough. Maybe God made a mistake.

But the amazing thing is that God believes in us. He trusts us so much that he allows us to climb these monumental hurdles and is certain that we will come out on the other side better than we ever were before.

But he also doesn't expect us to get through it alone. He promises to help us find the light at the end of the tunnel. Isaiah 41:10 says, "Do not fear, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you and uphold you with my righteous right hand."

That doesn't mean that things won't be hard, but we should take heart in the midst of our troubles because not only does the Creator of all think that we're strong; he believes in us and promises to stand beside us and hold us up through it all.