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God Will Give You More than You Can Handle (Protestant Caucus)
The Gospel Coalition ^ | July 17, 2015 | Mitch Chase

Posted on 07/22/2015 6:43:38 AM PDT by Gamecock

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To: Gamecock

God may give us more than we can handle by ourselves, but not more than we can handle in His strength.

Phil 4:6-13

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.


21 posted on 07/22/2015 8:26:38 AM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: newfreep

Draw on Him. He has a plan for you and suicide is NOT it!

I understand your pain. Over three years ago, my wife left, cutting off all contact with me, our church and even friends she had before I met her. Near as I can figure, she had a nervous breakdown, ably aided by her mother, a real misandrist (female version of a mysogynist).

The shock of my (now) ex-wife’s leaving, caused me to take extended sick leave from work. Four weeks after I returned to work, I was permanently laid off, with a financial package. Having just turned 50, with only a bachelors degree but no designation from my work field’s governing bodies (CMA, CA or CGA, all are now CPA), I was out of luck to get back into my field.

Over 2 1/2 years, when I was so discouraged by the loss of my partner and an inability to find decent, well paying work, He provided, such that I was able to meet all my obligations. On a number of occasions, I was ready to call it quits from this life. He showed me that suicide would have passed a number of debts onto her shoulders, perhaps leading to her suicide, and would have likely led to at least one of our dogs being put down, since she no longer wanted her ‘baby’, as she used to called one of them.

God eventually got me a job driving a school bus. After 2 1/2 years out of the workforce, that was a good way to get back in, rather than going directly into a 50-60 hour a week, high pressure job, like I had been laid off from.

My ‘kids’ on the bus are all ‘special needs’ and, in spite of having been bitten by one of them during my second week on the job, I wouldn’t trade the job for my old position. I earn less than 1/3 what I made in accounting, and the bus company is rather ‘frugal’ with its employees ;-), but the kids make it worthwhile.

I believe God has a plan for each one of us. The trials we go through refine us so we can be presentable to the Lord (Malachi 3:3, 1 Peter 1:7). Some of us, like me, have a low ‘ore content’, so the refining process is long and difficult (for us), and takes much ‘refining fire’ to produce fine silver and gold, but the end result will be fine silver and gold!

Recently, I heard Nabeel Qureshi speak at church. Having been born and raised moslem, it broke the heart of his mom and dad when he accepted Christ. (Luckily for him, they belong to a pacifist sect of islam, so an ‘honour killing’ was out of the question.) After they found out, he prayed to God (not allah), asking why God hadn’t killed him after he had converted but before his parents found out of the conversion. The logic being, God would be happy that he had converted, he would be happy, eternally in God’s presence and his parents would be happy, blissfully unaware of their son’s denouncing allah and islam. God answered by telling him that it wasn’t about him, it was about God!

All we can know is that God causes all things to work together for good, for those who love Him. It DOES get better, if not in this life, then in the next.


22 posted on 07/22/2015 8:30:29 AM PDT by A Formerly Proud Canadian (I once was blind, but now I see...)
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To: Gamecock

Wonderful and so true — He gives such indescribably wondrous gifts!

Hoss


23 posted on 07/22/2015 8:32:49 AM PDT by HossB86 (Christ, and Him alone.)
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To: Gamecock
Maybe it's a semantic argument kind of thing, but here's another way of saying/seeing the trials and tribulations we face from a similar point of view:

Question:"Does God promise to not give us more than we can handle?"

24 posted on 07/22/2015 9:29:58 AM PDT by GBA (Just a hick in paradise)
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To: GBA
I like the follow-up question:

Why does God allow us to go through trials and tribulations?

^^I once wondered the same thing^^

But now I better understand how the "TnTs" often lead to that peace that defies all understanding, but also how getting there usually means taking one of those character building short-cuts through the desert.

"No pain, no gain"? At least, that's how it felt the first few trips.

Since then, I've had to learn a few of the trails and kinda got into the spirit of things, so to speak...or rather "the Spirit into me", and now I don't fear those workouts like I once did.

Now I've figured out how we can always come out better for them.

You just have to do what The Coach says, you know, really take it to heart, and the game is won, no matter how bad things are in the moment.

25 posted on 07/22/2015 10:39:47 AM PDT by GBA (Just a hick in paradise)
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To: newfreep
I married literally the “girl-next-door” who lost a battle to breast cancer at 28. There are times when the hopelessness & weight of the world makes me consider “crossing over” to her.

When my son died I felt the same way. All I can tell you is you will never lose that feeling of loss, but in time it will not overwhelm you.

26 posted on 07/22/2015 10:56:25 AM PDT by wmfights (a stranger in a hostile and foreign land that used to be my home)
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To: wmfights
When my son died I felt the same way.

I have a relative who's lost his wife to Alzheimers. He spends his days taking care of someone who looks like her, but doesn't even know who his name.

27 posted on 07/22/2015 11:04:06 AM PDT by tacticalogic
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: newfreep

So sorry.


29 posted on 07/22/2015 1:11:06 PM PDT by Gamecock
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To: dragonblustar

**I just don’t know why I always fight God for control**

It’s what we do!


30 posted on 07/22/2015 1:12:39 PM PDT by Gamecock
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To: A Formerly Proud Canadian

Wonderful testimony.


31 posted on 07/22/2015 1:14:37 PM PDT by Gamecock
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To: Gamecock

I haven’t been logged in for a long time due to, what seemed to me anyway, a steadily rising level of toxicity on this site. I logged in today to tell you that this is probably the best post, along with comments, that I have seen on Free Republic in a VERY long time. It just hits the nail right on the head.
Thanks.


32 posted on 07/22/2015 1:19:07 PM PDT by bubbacluck (America 180)
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Comment #33 Removed by Moderator


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