I was recently talking to a friend who has three serious autoimmune diseases as well as a spinal condition that causes numbness on one side of her body. This woman survived colon, cervical, and breast cancer at different times in her twenties and thirties. Today, she devotes one day a week to medical treatments, but she works five days each week.
At one point, she was bedridden and was unable to speak. She didn’t lie in bed feeling sorry for herself and wondering why God made her go through this. She thought about the purpose of her situation.
If she couldn’t talk, that must mean that God wanted her to listen, to hear.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Matthew 11:15
If she wasn’t mobile, that must mean that God wanted her to be still.
Be still and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10
People often say that God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but my friend and I don’t believe that. If God allowed us only the amount of pain or suffering or need that we can handle on our own, we wouldn’t need Him. God allows us to suffer more than we can handle so that we depend on Him. He wants us to cry out to Him. He wants us to admit that we can’t handle a medical diagnosis, a broken family relationship, a financial crisis, or any of the multitude of problems that we face every day. God wants us to look toward the hills and say, “My help comes from the Lord.” (Psalm 121:2)
“Grace from the God Who Guards Your Life” on the website of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation includes a story that exemplifies God’s care of us. The author observed a young lifeguard saving the life of a man who ignored multiple warnings of danger. Suddenly he was in trouble and couldn’t help himself. The lifeguard jumped in and rescued him. In the same way, God is our lifeguard. He guards us and rescues us even if we have strayed and ignored warnings.
So don’t believe anyone who tells you that God won’t give you more than you can handle. He gives you more than you can handle, so He can handle it for you. Give Him that heavy load you are carrying.