These thoughts, posted on a former blog of mine back in November 2008, have been privately mentioned to me as soul-healing more than anything I’ve ever written.

One of my least favorite sentences came across my computer screen again last night:

God only gives you what you can handle.

I see or hear something like it almost every week — in a tragic news article, a blog entry, a well-meaning conversation.

A girl could get crushed under that kind of theology.

Scripture speaks of never having more temptation than you can escape, but offers no such promises in the way of circumstances. Telling the wife who has been cruelly betrayed, the family who is facing eviction, or the martyr on their way to the throne that there’s nothing going on they can’t handle is a spiritual tragedy. It places all the weight on their aching, bruised shoulders and their blood and tears on the hands of our God.

I find that God frequently allows quite a bit more than I can bear. My despair and inadequacy and fear are often the only vehicles that drive me to the One who can handle all things.