Myths of Christianity – Part 1

For those familiar with the blog, you may remember I spent 40 years of my life as a self-identified “former Catholic”. I had not and did not read the Bible. I didn’t go to church. While I knew and continued to pray to God, much of what I believed about faith was absorbed through culture. I had lots of ideas that quite frankly, were wrong. It wasn’t until my best friend shared an experience that happened to him, that I realized, I may have unintentionally and significantly hurt people with my words, with what I believed, with statements about faith, about God, that were wrong. Today, I’d like to share the first of three myths I believed, that were exactly that, myths. False beliefs I had that couldn’t have been more wrong.

Myth 1: You are given what you can handle

This is a big one. Friends I’m embarrassed to think about how many times I’ve said this to others. In our culture, we often say this, meaning to encourage someone going through a hard time. At least I did. In reality, it does the opposite. In my darkest days, as I struggled to get through a day, when the pain felt so overwhelming that I had to break the day down into 30-minute increments to make it through, I did not feel I was given what I could handle. And here’s what I’ve come to know, we are given more than we can handle. But never more than God can.

The most heart wrenching, terrifying moments of my life have been when I could not help my children. There have been two moments with my children when they were going through something I could not fix. One I shared last week when my son was in the hospital with a bacterial infection that risked him losing his vision in an eye. The second was actually worse. It was a life and death situation. We were working with doctors, I was doing all the things as a mom I could think of, but the situation was out of my hands. I remember sitting at my kitchen counter, a rare moment of alone time with no one else at home, and I broke down. It was the moment I realized what we were facing was bigger than anything I could do as a mom. It was more than I could handle. I broke down and cried like I had never cried before. And I called out to God. In my desperation, my fear, my anger, my pain…I laid it all out. Holding nothing back I let it all out. Tears streaming down my face, anguish in my heart, telling God in no uncertain terms that we needed his help. We needed him to intervene. That my son was His son and we needed him to do what I could not, help him. 

In God’s great mercy, he met me in that place. He was not afraid of my anger. He was not disappointed in my fear and frustration. He was not offended by my confrontation. He was not surprised by my unleashing of emotions and desperate plea for help. He was my loving Father. I felt his encouragement to let it all out. I felt his compassion for the pain and fear I was experiencing. I felt his comfort as he let me know his overwhelming love for my son and me. While the situation was far more than we could handle, it wasn’t more than He could handle. He took all that I was feeling and cleansed my heart. He took my pain and fear and exchanged it for hope. And not long after, He brought us through that situation. 

More than a myth, it is a lie that “we are given what we can handle”. In this broken world we live in, we will experience more than we can handle. But never more than God can handle. The love God has for us, it’s more than we could ever understand. His ways are not ours. He can make a way through a situation when we can’t see a way that exists. (Isaiah 43:19) In the midst of our darkest pain, he can give us hope. But we have to reach out to him. We have to be willing to give the situation to him. My encouragement to you, whatever you’re facing, however big or small, give it to God. Allow him to come into the situation, to comfort you, to let you know how precious you are to him, that you are loved. And that there is nothing He can’t handle. A simple prayer I encourage you to pray:

God, I give you ____. I give it to you and ask for your help and your hope. In Jesus name, Amen.

Whatever you may be facing, please know you are not alone. We welcome the chance to pray for you, to join you in giving what you’re facing to God and praying for his help and hope to invade your situation. If we can pray for you, simply email blog@calvarylg.com.

Praying blessings of peace and hope.