More Than We Can Handle

We've all had those rough days. The kind that make you throw your hands over your eyes, and just weep. Perhaps your child has been disobedient, the laundry is overflowing, the dishes are piled up, and the toddler is playing with his poop...again. We have all been overwhelemed, felt defeated, and at times, incapable of this tast of being mom. Surely God wouldn't give me more than we can handle right? I mean, that's what everyone says when they try to console you, when you feel like throwing in the towel, at the loss of a pregnancy, or the diagnosis of a disease, people always say "God doesn't give you more than you can handle". To that I say "Where in the Bible does it say that?". I've looked, I've searched. It's NOT there. It sounds awesome...and in my earlier mothering years I clung to that phrase. I found hope in knowing that God doesn't give me more than I can handle. But guess what? That's a lie. God does not promise that it's going to be easy. In fact...he says to count these trials, these battles, these moments of feeling defeated...to count them as JOY! You see, apart from Christ, we are NOTHING. I am nothing without him. I CAN'T be a good homemaker, an effective helpmeet, or a loving mother without God's grace, and his strength. So in those moments of desperation, helplessness, and defeat what do we do? RUN! Stop everything you are doing and RUN! Run to the cross, fall into the arms of Christ and lay it at His feet. Because our hope, our strength, and our endurance comes from HIM! Dear sleep deprived mother, overstressed homemaker, and exhausted wife...He has given you so much more than you can handle, so that you will cling to Him! During the battle of the wills, the diaper changes, the multiple baths, and the many many loads of laundry, God has placed a mountain, a struggle, SOMETHING there that pushes you to your breaking point and keeps you on your knees. Please find hope and assurance in knowing that God has a perfect plan for your life - all of it. During the highs, and the lows God is in complete control of it all. Run to Him! You can't get all the laundry done. You can't homeschool your children. You can't lead them to Christ. You can't be a sufficient housewife. You can't. But through Christ you can! Find hope, joy, and strength in your Creator! In the trials, and tribulations the go along with being a mother - Christ is drawing you to Him. He's teaching you something through those battles, and moments of being completely overwhelmed. Pray, and joyfully allow it, to keep you on your knees.