“God WILL Allow More Than You Can Bear”

This guest post is by my friend Natalie Davis who, along with her husband Daniel, is living out one of the most challenging circumstances a parent can imagine. Their 21 month old daughter Lanae, is a patient at Children’s Hospital in Seattle and has been diagnosed with a choroid plexus carcinoma (malignant) brain tumor. Lanae has, in the last few weeks, had several surgeries including a major one to remove as much of the tumor as is operably possible. She is now having physical therapy and commencing a six months journey with Chemotherapy. I cannot begin to imagine the challenging circumstances they face each day.  Would you please read her words, and then join the thousands around the world who are praying for them?

 

” ‘God will not give you greater than you can bear.” This phrase bugs me more than most any other. It is a direct lie that completely ignores the purpose of any trial, ignores the end result that God desires to bring you to.

The truth is, God WILL allow more than you can bear. He may not directly GIVE it to you, but He will certainly allow it. (As in the case of Job- God didn’t cause the bad things, but He did permit them.) Everything that happens to you, every trial and conflict, must first be screened by God. If you are one of His own, then absolutely nothing happens without His consent.

And sometimes, He grants things to happen that will crush you. They will destroy you. They will rip you down, break you into pieces. And when you’re fallen, lying in agony on the ground, you will again be tossed up and smashed against the wall. It will keep coming until you are completely crushed and broken.

But here’s the beautiful thing. The greatest glories can only be found in a place of complete and absolute brokenness. When things are darkest, that is when the light is most beautiful. When His grace is the most comforting. When His strength, and not yours, is most enduring.

God never said that He wouldn’t give you more than you can bear. If you could bear it, there would be no reason to turn to Him. There would be no room for growth, because you could do it all on your own. God’s greatest desire is to bring you to a place of utter trust in Him, where you have nowhere to turn BUT Him. He wants you to lean on Him, not on yourself.

He’ll give you more than you can bear, that is certain. But He DID say that ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’ And there is the promise to cling to when times are rough. ”

If you will pray for baby Lanae, would you consider sending a postcard from your location, to them at this address?
Lanae Davis, RB.5
4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105