“God only gives you as much as you can handle.”
Growing up, I heard this phrase more times than I could count. I would get stressed and overwhelmed about all the things happening in life, and my mom would always say, “God only gives you as much as you can handle.”
Last week had been a hectic week with a sick kid, my new administrator training, family visiting, a friend in need, what felt like one million activities for my three daughters, a surprise 2-hour delay of school, two upcoming preschool field trips, and, to top it off, my husband was on another work trip. I was sitting at gymnastics watching my younger two girls practice while helping my older daughter with homework while simultaneously trying to respond to a parent email. That’s when THE TEXT came: My husband's flight was delayed AGAIN, and he now would be staying in an airport hotel overnight. I quickly switched tabs on my computer to look at our family calendar for Friday. I now have to figure out how to get my middle daughter to school, my oldest to a doctor appointment, and my youngest to school at the exact same time. Not to mention that we now have two teachers out sick, so I will need to be substituting also at the same time. Thoughts are racing in my head when my oldest daughter says, “Don’t forget that tonight we need to get my costume together for the school walkathon tomorrow” (which is something one of us parents always stops in to watch). Then, the next text that comes in tells me that my after-school care plan for my youngest has fallen through. Now my phone dings again. It’s my husband reminding me our van is done at the shop, and it has to be picked up and the rental car dropped off by 5 p.m. tomorrow. Slowly but surely, I felt like I was melting into a puddle in the lobby of the gymnastics center.
After taking a deep breath, I reached out to a few friends, fixed my transportation woes, and moved the doctors appointment. I crossed my fingers that my husband's plane would land in time for him to visit at least one of the girls at the walkathon while planning how I might squeeze in a visit to the other. I went to bed stressed and overwhelmed with what felt like a neverending week but said to myself, “God only gives you as much as you can handle.” In the morning, I got all the girls on their way and rushed to work only to realize I had forgotten my coffee. I ran to the library to use the Keurig before heading into the classroom. I started to make my coffee when someone needed me. I took care of the need and headed back to pour the water into the Keurig. As I poured the cup of water in the machine, the water began overflowing everywhere. As you can guess, I had already filled the water reservoir on my first attempt to rectify the no caffeine situation. I was frantically cleaning up the spilled water when I stopped and said, “Okay, God, I hear you. Are you saying you sometimes give me more than I can handle? Sometimes, life’s stressors will overflow?”
I think that is exactly what God was telling me. After a short google search, I found that the saying “God gives you as much as you can handle” comes from 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” Meaning yes, God will give me more than I can handle, but with him, I will find the strength to endure and get through anything that may come my way. Now I lead into this week with a new mantra: “God doesn’t give us what we can handle. God helps us handle what we are given.”
Getting my strength from God,
Nicole Wells