Does God Give Us More than We Can
Handle?
By Tamera Lynn Kraft
By Tamera Lynn Kraft
I’ve heard the
saying many times. God never gives us more than we can handle. But that’s only
partially true. Here’s the verse it comes from.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has
overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will
not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation
will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
It says in the
verse that God won’t give you a temptation you can’t handle. But trials and
difficulties are another matter. He promises we will have difficulties and lots
of them. Some of them will be harder than we can handle on our own.
Before I knew
this, I used to get mad at God. I didn’t understand why He allowed things to
come into my life that were beyond me. Then I learned this simple truth. There
are reason God gives us more than we can handle.
If He didn’t
give us more than we can handle, we wouldn’t know how much we need Him. We
wouldn’t be on our knees crying out to the only One who can help us through our
difficulties. Jesus Christ is the only One who can speak to the wind and waves
in our lives and command them to be still. That’s good news because I get in
trouble when I think I can manage without Him.
The other
reason is to grow our faith and perserverance. The book of James tells us that
trials are a good thing. They strenghthen us spiritually. When an athlete
trains, he works at stretching his limits so he can get stronger. He puts a
little more on himself than he can easily handle. It’s the same spiritually.
God allows us to stretch ourselves spiritually by putting more on us than we
can easily handle so that our faith can grow. When I look over my life, I find
there are things I can manage easily now that would have thrown me years ago.
In my novella, Soldier’s Heart, my main character went
through things during the Civil War that he couldn’t handle. He came home to his young wife with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or what they used to identify as "Shell Shocked" (Soldier’s Heart). When he learned to turn to God, it helped him deal with the
horrors of war.
So God will put
more on us than we can handle. And that’s good news. I’m giving away a copy of
Soldier’s Heart to someone who leaves a comment on something they went through
with God’s help.
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Here’s the description of Soldier’s Heart.
After returning home from the
Civil War, will his soldier’s heart come between them?
Noah Andrews, a soldier with
the Ohio Seventh Regiment can’t wait to get home now that his three year
enlistment is coming to an end. He plans to start a new life with his young
wife. Molly was only sixteen when she married her hero husband. She prayed
every day for him to return home safe and take over the burden of running a
farm.
But they can’t keep the war
from following Noah home. Can they build a life together when his soldier’s
heart comes between them?
Soldier’s Heart is available in e-book from
Amazon Kindle, Kobo Reader, and Barnes & Noble Nook. It will also be
available in paperback in a couple of months.
Bio:
Tamera Lynn Kraft has always
loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction because there are so
many stories in history. Soldier’s Heart
is her first published fiction work, and she has a Christmas novella coming out
December 1st called A Christmas
Promise. Tamera has
recently celebrated her thirty-fourth anniversary with her loving husband. She
has two grown and married children and two grandchildren.
Tamera has
been a children’s pastor for over 20 years. She is the leader of a ministry
called Revival Fire For Kids where she mentors other children’s leaders,
teaches workshops, and is a children’s ministry consultant and children’s
evangelist. She is also a writer and has curriculum published including Kid
Konnection 5: Kids Entering the Presence of God published by Pathway Press. She
is a recipient of the 2007 National Children’s Leaders Association Shepherd’s
Cup for lifetime achievement in children’s ministry.
You can
contact Tamera online at these sites.
Thanks for having me on your blog today, Ada.
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