Standing on My Soapbox

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say "God isn't going to give you more than you can handle".  If you've ever said that to me and I've blown up at you, I'm sorry.

It's simply not true.

Someone tell me where in the Bible that little tidbit is, will you? 

I'm going to give you a hint: it's not there.

It's a misquote.  It's someone's bad interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13.  Let me lay that one out for you.

"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." (NASB)

Okay, where does that say that I'm going to be able to handle my 4 crazy kids?  Does it say God thinks I can handle a child with autism?  Or a set of twins?  Does it say anything about me being able to control my circumstances?  NO!

This verse is all about temptation.  Honestly, the biggest temptation for me is to wallow in self-pity over everything that I'm supposed to be handling.  I have an escape from that self-pity, though.  I can just hand over all my problems to God and let him handle them.  It's not easy, but since I'm fleeing the temptation to dwell on the negative, my escape is to let go of the negative and give it all over to the only One who can handle it.  It doesn't mean that I'm suddenly more of a superwoman and I handle MS, autism, twins, and everything else on my list that makes me a huge sob story.  It means that God can handle MS, autism, twins, and anything else because He is in charge.

Here's a good verse "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."Philippians 4:13 (NASB).  There's the empowering verse!  I can do all things!  Not with my own power and brains, but through HIM!  He is the one who is supplying the power here.  I can't handle anything alone.  It's only through Him that I can do anything. 

The reality is: God isn't going to give you anything in life that He can't handle.  He is the one handling my problems.  He is the one who makes me Supermommie.  I have super powers.  The cool thing is that God is offering those super powers to you too.