Thursday, August 29, 2013

The moment when I call your bluff

This post has been sitting in my "Que" for quite some time. With the beginnings or the ending, but never the middle. However today is the day when I lay down my cards, call your bluff and say "bull sh*t". 
Everyone says it, heck, I have probably written a blog about it, and say it often. A a church going girl, I have even believed it and said it to myself. "you got this Kat, God wouldn't give you more than you can handle". Then I got to thinking would he? So I looked. Where is the verse in the bible that says He wont give me more than I can handle? I should have that bad boy tattooed on my forehead, and written on my bathroom mirror or framed next to my bed so when I wake up to deal with one of the kids 8,000 times that night I can calmly look over at the cute little pinterest inspired frame next to my bed and say "oh yes, thats right, the bible says God wont give me any more than I can handle". Thats where this comes from.  I looked, I read my bible, I googled, I can't find it. Its not there. Like I said, I am calling your bluff, and mine to.  Now, if I was being tempted? we got that covered. God wont tempt me more than I can handle (1 Cor 10:13) that has nothing saying about being able to handle things. Things that he does give us? Burdens, yup that sounds fun. We can bring our burdens to the Lord, but it doesn't say he will take them away. Trials? We get trials of all different kinds. Yippee Can't wait.  So when we say "God wont give you any more than you can handle" to the grieving mom who is saying their last goodbye to her daughter. They sound nice and sweet, but its a lie.
Can a 5 year old little boy handle the death of their dad?
Can a wife handle being the sole survivor of a car crash killing her 3 kids and husband?
Can a mom handle their child being in and out of the hospital to many times to count?
Can the mom of a child with brain cancer handle it?
The short answer to these questions I think is no, they can't handle it.
What God does promise us? A Hope. A Future. So that I can live with. I don't need to handle all that God has thrown at me. I am ok to have a pity party. I am ok to melt down in the middle of the post office just because I don't want to "handle" my situations anymore. I am ok to ask for help, I don't need to feel like I have to handle my situation because God said He wouldn't give me more than I can handle...He never said it.  Trials, he promised and from those trials he will refine us and make us into the person he called us to be.