Pssssttt … I Have a Secret

 

 

I’ve heard it my whole life.

I’ve repeated it for part of my life.

We’ve heard it so often, we don’t think twice about repeating it.

I no longer believe it.

It’s not biblical truth.

Yet, if you travel in Christian circles, or not … you will hear it! 

 

Chances are, it could inflict further injury into broken souls,

where it was intended for the exact opposite!

 

Over the past year, my family has faced one very difficult situation after another. I’ve lost count … seriously. 

 I equate the feeling to being knocked down by waves, swirling around in the surf, wondering if air will find your lungs again: Those minutes “in between”, where everything is uncertain and you’re not sure if you will ever return to life above water. About the time you find the surface to grab the breath your lungs scream for, another wave topples you over; forcing you down into the “in between”. 

Again, you struggle to right yourself amidst the power of the waves. You’re a rag doll in their strength, praying for rescue.

Have you been there… Sticking arms out hoping to break the water surface for a sense of direction, lungs burning thinking, I need oxygen, but can’t find it?

This happens over and over because the ocean doesn’t stop producing waves and you can’t seem to find a way out of the tumultuous current. You’re stuck in the rip tide; being carried out to sea. You know you are not in charge and the power and strength of the sea … life … is WAY beyond your capabilities of handling! Even well-seasoned trained experts drown in these circumstances.

Then, a well meaning soul offers a well meaning statement that literally makes you want to scream, because it could not possibly be true, given what you are living through and experiencing.

Here it is … the statement, I stopped believing years ago and will never utter again:

“Ya know … God will not give you more than you can handle!!!”

STOP

“YES, YES HE DOES!!! HE ABSOLUTELY DOES!!

This is way too much for me to handle!!!

I know it with every ounce of my being!”

My soul and heart are broken under the weight! Completely!! If I could have withstood it, they would not have broken!! I have many many examples of not being capable of bearing it physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. (I’ll spare you those.)

 

Let me challenge and encourage you to consider your thoughts on this matter. 

Perhaps, you say “God will not give you more than you can handle” because it seems fitting according to 1 Corinthians 10:13. In this chapter, Paul is talking about temptations not trials or suffering. It is dangerous to our own spiritual health to pull verses out of context and slap them around like truth.

Maybe, you have repeated it because it’s been said to you and you have accepted it as truth. Test your thoughts with scripture, make sure they align together, in context. Don’t swallow man-made platitudes as truth, unless God says it.

 

Here are two excellent articles to read on the topic:

Enlighten yourself or Remind yourself!

 

Moving beyond “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

And

God Will Give You More Than You Can Handle

 

I find so much solace in these words from the second article:

“Trials come in all shapes and sizes, but they don’t come to show how much we can take or how we have it all together. Overwhelming suffering will come our way because we live in a broken world with broken people. And when it comes, let’s be clear ahead of time that we don’t have what it takes. God will give us more than we can handle—but not more than he can.”

HERE’S THE SECRET … THIS is Truth!!

He won’t give us more than HE can handle!!

Do you hear my arms flailing against the water, my head bobbing and my loud gasp as fresh air fills my empty lungs?

Can you hear my sighs, see my tension release and note my spirit finding strength?

“God can handle it, I can’t, don’t have to,” … is life-giving!!

This broken world is way too much for me!

I was not meant to bear it … Can’t bear all of it on my own!

But the One who CAN bear it … Is ever with me!

I am His and He is mine!

I throw up surrender hands, fall to my knees, cry my eyes out, sometimes, and hand it over to the One who can handle the weight of this world!!!

It’s WAY BEYOND ME! 

These truths have been so freeing, like the breath of air my burning lungs needed … God can handle the currents, riptides and crashing waves of life. I was never meant to!

I lift up my eyes to the mountains

  where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

(Psalm 121:1-2)

Spread the secret. Shout it from the mountain tops!

I know there is someone tossed in the waves, stuck in the current,

needing desperately to find oxygen for their lungs!!

Pass This Secret On … Be A Life-Giver!

 

God DOES give you more than you can handle,

but rest assured, it is NEVER more than HE can handle!!

 

Please Note: I do not recall any particular person saying this to me, I just remember how it felt and that I have been guilty of the same thing many times. My goal is to bring awareness to investigate our words and compare them with our true beliefs.

 

Rescued,

Feel free to share with a friend(s).

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