BULL!

God will never give you more then you can handle.... BULL!!
I hear this over and over again from well meaning church going people and it drives me CRAZY! People refer to 1 Corinthians 10:13 as where they get this faulty quote.

God continually gives us more than we can handle to make us stretch, grow, and lean on Him.  I have had this happen many times in my life. And it is all through out the Bible.  Look at Abraham, Job, Mary, Martha, and Paul as a few examples.

When my oldest daughter was 6 months old she was sick and the doctor could not figure out what was wrong with her. She had run a fever off and on, it would spike then recover. They drew blood and found nothing. One night as I consoled her as she was crying for the 5th night straight, I started crying out too.

After I got her to sleep and literally crawled into bed I heard a CRACK and a THUD. My husband and I jumped out of bed to find the 50 year old tree in our front yard had fallen across our driveway and on the sidewalk. We were in shock.

In the morning as the baby woke up with a high fever and a doctor appointment looming we considered how to get out. My husbands 1st call was to work, 2nd call to the city, 3rd call to the doctor.

The city came in a matter of an hour and had the tree removed from across the drive way and sidewalks. I did not say they hauled it away.... they are only liable to clear a path for pedestrian and motor traffic.

So we head off to the doctor's office and have no further insight on the cause of our daughters illness with a HUGE tree laying in our front yard. The doctor decides to admit her to the hospital because she is now getting dehydrated and not eating well.

By the afternoon we are in the hospital and getting fluids awaiting test results. I stay at the hospital and send my husband home that night to sleep. As the morning dawned we got the test results of ecoli. I thought it was the straw that would break my back....

Then my cell phone rang. It was a tree service my husband had called to remove the tree. It would be $946 to remove the tree and haul it away. I told them okay figuring we would have to get a loan or charge all these unplanned expenses.

As I am hanging up the phone, my husband comes in the room and I lost it! I bawled like my daughter had the night before uncontrollably. After about 10 minuets of a good hard cry, my husband reaches into his pocket and pulls out his handkerchief and a $950 bonus check from his place of employment.

God DID give me WAY  MORE than I wanted to handle. But today I can look back at that and see how the Lord  provided for me in my time of need. These struggles made me STRETCH in my faith, GROW in endurance and LEAN on HIM.

He is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord God our PROVIDER.