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More than I can Handle
I recently read this blog post by Nate Pyle about confronting the lie that God won’t give you more than you can handle. All I have to say to this is AMEN!
I get so irritated by that trite NON-Biblical saying. Life will dish out way more than you can take. It’s life. It happens. And it happens to absolutely everyone at one time or another. No matter your age, race, religion. No matter what country or city you live it. Crap happens. Sometimes it’s deep crap.
I can tell you with certainty that it happens because I’ve been treading in the deep crap end of the pool for months and months. I haven’t loved the trials and struggles. I have hated every single minute of the struggle. No disrespect to the Apostle Paul, but rejoicing in trials is not my thing.
But even though I have hated every minute of this season, I have been learning a lot about myself, what I believe, and about who God really is. Even in this season of struggle, I have peace. When you receive letters from your mortgage company threatening foreclosure and your phone rings off the hook with collection calls, peace is a precious commodity. All I can say is that I would not have made it this far without Jesus and the peace He gives.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”- John 14:27 NLT
I have peace even though there is absolutely nothing I can do to fix this situation by myself. I need a miracle. It’s pretty much the only answer to my situation right now. So I am praying for a miracle and trusting that God is with me in this mess that is more than I can handle.
The other thing that irritates me is when people say, “So where’s your good God now?” Um. Same place He’s always been. Right here with me. Loving me. Believing in me and rooting me on. I may not understand or know why, but I do know that I am not alone. And for now that is what I choose to focus on. To focus on the fact that I am loved nor am I alone. For that I am grateful.
I have days where I lose it and I whine and cry and eat whole pints of ice cream. I know ice cream doesn’t help, but it’s ice cream. What does help me when my focus is centered on how much my life is sucking at the moment is remembering Job. He went through about 9 months of trial and sickness, So I read the book of Job. But not the whole book. Not the parts where his friends try to explain why this is happening, when really they are more clueless than Job is. Nor the parts about what he lost or his suffering. I just read the end, chapters 38-40. It’s where God answers Job and Job gets to know God in a real and tangible way. It gives me hope to hang on for one more day and the peace squelches out my fear for that day.
If you’re swimming in the deep crap end with me, you don’t want to hear trite sayings. What you are going through sucks and I am sorry that you are hurting. I cannot fix it for you or tell you how long you’ll be there. I can tell you that you are loved. I can tell you that you are not alone. I am praying today for those who are suffering through a rough season of trials.
That’s it?
When someone gives you a gift, just accept it and say, “Thank you.” It’s really not a difficult concept. But when receiving from God, I still tend to struggle with this. I feel as though I need to clean up my own mess and earn God’s help. That is the definition of religion, people trying to impress God with what they do and to make themselves worthy of God’s notice.
Well if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this; God already loves you as much as He’s ever going to. Do you know why that is? Because He already loves you completely and unconditionally. What you do or not do doesn’t change the love He has for you. He’s a good God who wants to bless people and enjoys giving good gifts.
The story that kept popping up to me was the story of God giving Naaman a gift. It’s found in II Kings 5. Naaman was a great Aramean warrior, who was beloved by his king, and also happened to also to be a leper. Naaman’s wife had a maid from Israel, who told Naaman that she knew of a prophet who could heal him. So Naaman went to Elisha’s house. Here’s the story beginning in verse 9 and going through verse 16.
“So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house. But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”
But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.
But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!
Then Naaman and his entire party went back to find the man of God. They stood before him, and Naaman said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” And though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused.”
Naaman’s pride said, “That’s it??? There must be more than simply bathing in a dirty river? This can’t be right. Shouldn’t there be some sort of ritual or cost involved.” But there wasn’t. God simply required Naaman to believe, then He healed him. Naaman was the leader of the army that had just defeated his people in battle. Yet still God loved him. Yet God healed him without expecting anything in return. That’s the goodness and giving nature of God.
This just blows my mind.
Musical Monday-Dream for You
Today’s encouraging Musical Monday song is Dream for You by Casting Crowns.
Your plans for the future might be good but God’s are bigger and better. Trust me on this. For the past year, God has been taking my little itty bity dreams and plans and showing me His version for me. Let me tell you, even with my stellar imagination, God’s creative powers are vastly superior to mine!
“No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it— What God has arranged for those who love him. But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.” I Corinthians 2:9 MSG
This scripture has been proven again and again in my life this year as I seek to partner with Him in all He has for me. Knowing that God believes that I am capable of achieving these dreams in partnership with Him, has not only bolstered my confidence and made me want to take risks, it’s allowed me to let go of the things that have been holding me back.
One by one I’ve been laying waste to every single back up plan I’ve ever had and moving forward in what God has for me. Is it scary? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. I’ve never been happier or more excited in my life.
PS: I know the details what God’s doing in my life have been vague. Sorry, but that is on purpose. I have a policy that I don’t share what’s going on in my life with everyone until I have victory in it. I do share it with people who are prayer partnering with me. Specific people the Lord has put in my life for this purpose.
With social media and such it’s easy to put every single bad day, bad mood and negative thing in your life out for the world to comment on. I do not do this. I will not do this. Like David, I take my emotions and situations and vent them to the Lord and a grand total of 2 other people. Two people who I trust to not let me get away with wallowing. Two people who intercede for me like I intercede for them. The information that goes out to everyone else is filtered. It has to be.
My goal in this blog and in everything else I do is to encourage people. Most of you know exactly what you’ve done wrong and your issues. You don’t need me for that. What you do need is someone to remind you who God says you are, and that you are deeply loved. It is not too late to start making good choices. God is for you not against you. Just like God has big plans and dreams for me, He has them for you too. Yours will be vastly different from mine because we are two completely different people with different gifts and talents. I want to see you be the best you that you can be!!!
And I promise you this, when victory comes in the situations and circumstances I am facing. You and everyone else will hear what the Lord has done for me. Until then it is encouragement all day every day!
All In
Perception is everything. What you believe matters. What you believe about yourself determines how you allow others to treat you and how you behave. What you believe about yourself and God will determine your relationship with Him. What you believe about God determines whether or not you are willing to have faith in, commit to, and trust Him. If you don’t believe God is good and that God loves you, you will be unable to trust that He works all things out for your good. If you are unable to fully trust Him, you’ll never commit to go all in.
It can be scary to go all in. You may have doubts. You may not fully understand. Think about Mary when she was visited by the angel Gabriel. She was confused and did not fully understand what he was telling her. But she did believe that God was good and she trusted Him. So despite her doubt, Mary went all in.
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail.”” Luke 1:26-37 NLT
Mary could have heard what the angel had to say, and dismissed him. She could looked at teenage self and said, “Yeah right.” She could have listened to her doubts and refused to believe that this was possible. She could have missed being the mother of the Savior, the Messiah, if she chose not to believe.
But Mary did not miss what God had for her, because she chose to go all in. No back up plan. No rationalizations. No strategies. Just belief. “Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”” Luke 1:38
You alone choose what you believe. No one, not even God Himself, can make that choice for you. Mary chose to believe, and she gave birth to the Savior. What will you be capable of if you choose to believe God and go all in?
“You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said.” Luke 1:45 NLT
“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”” II Corinthians 2:9 NLT
“So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.” Hebrews 6:18 NLT
“Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” Matthew 19:26 NLT (Verse also found in Mark 10:27 and Luke 18:27).
God is Still God
“Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.” Psalm 90:2 NLT
On the days when things are not going the way I think they should, I need the reminder that despite what’s going in around me, God is still God. He is constant and consistent. He is the Great Creator. He is love. He is my provider.
One of the fastest ways to straighten out my “I want it now” mindset is praise and worship. My song of the day is Desert Song by Hillsong United. It came up on my iPod today and I listened to it on repeat. The whole song is fantastic, but there’s one lyric that just hit it for me today: “All of my life, in every season, You are still God; and I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship.”
One of the reasons praise and worship is so important is because it reminds us who our God is and how big He is. How good He is. Singing this song on repeat today reminded me who God is and it brought me out of that “do it my way, God” mindset.
Tears as fertilizer
“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest. ” Psalm 126:5-6
Letting go of the comfortable old for the uncertain new can be daunting and emotional. Even if it hurts, choose to remain open. Don’t let fear steal your future harvest!
There may be tears of pain and grief or even tears of frustration and exhaustion. Think of those tears as fertilizer and don’t let fear stop you! Remain open! Those tears are only for a season.
A Lesson From Job
“I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes.” Job 42:5
Everyone has hard times, but not everyone learns or grows from those times. You have the choice to become hard and bitter. And You have the choice to remain positive and open to change. Your perspective in the situation really is everything.
Job came out of his situation with a perspective shift, a softer heart & a real relationship with God.
Little Cloud of Faith
On this absolutely gorgeous day…that I’m thoroughly enjoying….I see this little teeny cloud. And I started thinking about Elijah praying to end the drought. I am not praying for rain but I am praying that you get a hold of the same kind of resolve that Elijah had telling his servant and Ahab to run from that teeny cloud, knowing with all that he was that God had answered His prayer.
Faith is believing before you see the manifestation of your promise or answer to your prayer. Knowing that He who has promised is faithful.
“Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”
Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’” 1Kings 18:44
Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing!
Awe and Wonder
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
-Albert Einstein
Today I realized that I can be amazed every single day. Awe and wonder is literally a lifestyle choice. I can choose to look for and experience joy in the everyday. I can choose to expect miracles. I can choose to say, “Father God, what awesome and wonderful things do you have planned for us today?”
I am the only one who determines how I receive from God and perceive the world around me! Only I have the power to decide whether I embrace the awe and wonder of life or whine and complain about it. I am all powerful in how I choose to react.
I know the faith walk ain’t for sissies. Believing God when all the evidence points against it is difficult, especially when you’ve been hurt and disappointed. But that’s exactly the time to look for awe and wonder in your life. That’s when you need to choose to expect good!
Why do you think Jesus called those little bitty kiddos the greatest in Matthew 18?
Think about it? Little kids just believe, and they walk around amazed by everything they see. Everything is new and exciting. That’s exactly what childlike faith looks like. That is what pleases and impresses Jesus.
What if today you expected awe and wonder? What if you went around knowing that our Father has good surprises for you everyday, hidden amongst the ordinary and mundane? What if you truly believed God is for you and not against you? What if today you just believe that God loves you? What if you just received His love like a toddler being picked up and cradled by their daddy?
I will leave you with this…the Greek word “know” in Romans 8:28 actually means to see therefore to know. It is connected to the word optomai (op’-tom-ahee), which means to gaze at something with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable. It means to be amazed by what you’re seeing. This isn’t a factoid to put in your knowledge bank, it is something you witness and are blown away by.
“And we stare long in amazement,in complete wonder, that the Creator of everything loves us so much that He causes everything in our (those loving and living for Him) lives to work together for our good benefit.” Romans 8:28 Jill Translation
venting and lamenting
Have you ever just gone on a major rant to God about anything and everything negative? The prophet Jeremiah did. His rant is called the book of Lamentations.
But what I love is after venting to God about all the negatory junk-ola in his life Jeremiah then says:
“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:21-26 NKJV
Remember it is not wrong to go to God with both the positive and negative in your life. But after you get the negatory junk-ola off your chest, remind yourself that God is good. Remind yourself there’s always hope in God because of Jesus’s resurrection.
If you learn anything from the prophets, learn that there is always hope when you’re one of God’s kids!
PS Biblical hope is not wishy washy wishing. It is a joyful and confident expectation of God. Speak your hope out of your mouth or sing it as a praise song. There is power in declaration!
jillbeingstill 