God DOES give us MORE than we CAN handle

Are you surprised? Do you think I am crazy? Have you ever thought of it that way? What do YOU think?

I honestly BELIEVE that God DOES give us MORE than we can handle. A LOT. I had this conversation with my running partner this morning (THANK GOODNESS FOR HER!!!) and while this is NOT a new thought I wanted to share with you all.

One thing that I have learned (and I have learned a few things) through Daxton's death is that God gives us more than we can handle. I mean honestly. He does. He stretches us. Not unlike training for a marathon. If we put in the work, do the short AND long runs faithfully and diligently then we will be able to finish the race with little to no injury. ON the other hand, if we just 'toy' with the idea of training for the marathon, we will inevitably end up with injuries and the race will be completed painfully or not at all.

And so it is with lessons learned from a loving Father in Heaven. We go on the 'short' runs. The said "easier" trials, if we are categorizing here. They stretch us a little bit more each and every one. But we get comfortable with those short runs and they become too easy. We are no longer sore, we no longer have the pain or the blisters, we no longer feel that daily reminder that we are running. Our breathing is easier, we can begin to go longer distances.

Then our Father in Heaven every once in awhile gives us the bigger ones, the harder ones. The ones that really put us to the test. The ones that test us. The ones that make or break our Faith in Him. The ones that if we truly learn from, we will come out stronger. And so it is with the 'long' runs. They are what help us to get through the marathon. The long runs test our endurance, our commitment. We become sore again. We struggle again. On mile 21, we ask ourselves why we ever decided to run the marathon. Why did we voluntarily sign up for this pain?

And so it is with our trials. We begin to question the Lord. Why do we get this said trial? What is there for us to learn? Why did we voluntarily sign up to come to this earth to suffer and endure? The answer is so that we can complete the marathon. SO that we can have eternal life. SO that we can live with our Father in Heaven again. SO that we can be strong in our challenges, in our faith, SO that one day we can be just like HIM.

So yes my friends. God gives us more than we can handle. Lets look at it this way, "God does NOT give us MORE than we can handle WITHOUT THE ENABLING POWER OF THE ATONEMENT."

Many of you might wonder what the enabling power of the atonement is. I took a class from Elder Bednar, formerly President Bednar at BYU Idaho. This is where I was first introduced to this topic. He describes the enabling power (and this is my own interpretation) as when we are are stretched as far as we can be stretched, the atonement reaches out and gives us the strength that we need to carry on.

I will give you an example. When Daxton died, I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually broken. There were some things I just could not do. I was doing the bare minimum to survive. I was lucky however. I had great friends and family. The enabling power of the atonement was all around me. Just when I thought I couldn't make dinner for my family, a friend brought it to me. Just when I thought I couldn't clean another moment, a friend came over and scrubbed my house top to bottom. Just when I thought I couldn't make it another day in my suffering "alone" the angels above sent me dear friends who knew what I was going through. When I thought that I couldn't stand another moment in my home without my little man crawling around, my family let me visit as often as I wanted and never complained about watching my girls when I truly felt like I could do it no longer.

That my friends is the enabling power of the atonement at its finest. Again, just when I was broken spiritually, brought to my knees, and humbled to the very core, it was confirmed that if I lived worthily of the blessings of Heaven above, I would someday be able to raise my little guy. I also took comfort in the arms of my Savior. He knows what I am going through. He is the ONLY one that KNOWS EXACTLY what I am feeling. I KNOW He is always there, that He will NEVER leave me alone, that He will be there for me in my loneliest hours.

Many of you struggle. Many of you have challenges. Many of you are not doing it alone. We can't do it alone. We have friends, family, blogs :), and church families that carry us through our most trying times. We are in this together. We are here to learn from one another.

God does NOT give us more than we can handle WITHOUT the enabling power of the atonement.