Too Much to Handle?

Pss.118: 17 “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”

Too much to handle?

What God has done for me…

I’ve never really been a fan of the fictional Super Heroes of the comic world or of the TV/movie world; it’s just not my thing. I’ve always admired the real heroes of the world that took great steps in saving/rescuing/training or changing the people of the world that walks around with blinders on bumping into wall after wall.

The real heroes are the ones with an uncanny strength that endures the prickliest of situations. They walk amid the cactus without getting pricked, they see the rose not the thorn, they hear the Word, not the world; those are the real heroes.

I never saw myself as one of those heroes, that is until…this Lenten season lent me clarity of something and now I see differently. I look around at people who say they are going to diet or give something up and fail in epic proportions after just a month of forgoing the very reason they started the diet in the first place. Their strength is weakened by temptation.

I watch as addictions pull tighter and tighter on the purse strings. I had to watch first hand as my husband wrestled with giving up sugar, Pepsi, and other addictions only to be pulled right back in within two months. I’m not the type of woman who lays demands at my husband’s feet and says change this or else, I don’t judge others for trying something and failing, all I can do is give them a sight of what successfully overcoming the temptations looks like, and sit and watch them walk or fall. 

I realized something this month, I have the strength of a T-Rex and the weakness of the T-Rex with its small little arms unable to reach the very ground he walks. I have the gentleness of a Brontosaurus that sees herbs, leaves, and plants as the nutrition of choice. I also feel that the likes of me are extinct in nature and I forage looking for someone, something, anything that shares my determination to live. People are remiss in understanding the strength needed to survive in this world today. They give up all too easily or turn a blind eye, puffing themselves up literally and metaphorically.

You might say that I’ve not always been this strong and you’d be wrong. I didn’t realize it when I was young of course because I was too busy surviving. I didn’t just one day ‘decide’ to be strong, give something up, take the road less traveled, this was my nature from my very beginning. I think I only just realized my strength, in seeing others falter over and over and unable to show very little semblance of strength. 

Okay, where did my strength come from? I can only attribute the unending strength of God Himself. I hear over and over that ‘God never gives you more than you can handle.’ That little piece of solace is based on:

KJV: 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 

ESV: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

AMP version simplified for you: “No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].

I believe that God does give you MORE than you can handle and this is where your strength is built up and sustained but notice also … “but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

I look back at my life; psoriasis arrived on the scene at around fourteen about the same time I converted from Catholicism to Christianity. Tempted by the wiles of men and alcohol, one man in particular whom I ended up marrying and staying married to for twenty years. At twenty-one, the legal age to drink, I gave up alcohol and further pursued the God who ‘provided a way out’ so I was ‘able to endure’ the path or what I like to deem ‘the road less traveled’! 

At thirty-seven, God was pulling me in a different direction. He had seen that not only had I endured but all the trying to save those around me I had done failed. He then called me to a completely different set of surroundings but I’d have to give up ALL of my possessions, save for my child, clothes and a few writings and odds and ends, that was it. I followed. The length of His arm was all that I had to strengthen me and it was enough to carry me over one thousand miles away.

Six years of reflection, healing, and growth were my years in the Texas sun. Then we were called to the center of the United States in the form of the heartland in the Midwest called Nebraska. It was here that my husband went blind, and had his sight restored two-and-a-half years later. It is here where I grew in strength for my Lord and Savior, feeding off the purity of souls that He surrounded me with physically and virtually. It is here where arthritis appeared and my body weakened but my strength kept growing and growing.

I thought I had had ‘more than I could handle’ but God poured out a little more in way of the life-changing diagnosis of Cancer. Yup, the Big C is what I was now dished out to overcome and strengthen myself with. I thought for sure I had met my end but God assured me that it was only the beginning of His plan! What was even bigger was that He asked me to trust in Him and not man to be the Almighty Healer that He is! This is where many people say, ‘C’mon now, that is just too far! God would never do that!’ Well, guess what people, He did, to ME! He gave me MORE than I could handle!

Now the task in front of me was to trust in Him [not man], lean not on my own understanding [ego], and use the very talents I was given [writing and research] as a tool in building an even stronger me. Onward I go, fast after fast, feast after feast, sight after site, [yes you read that right], and person after person I will change as I grow and hopefully teach them a lesson they can carry with them as they too are given ‘more than they can handle’. I am now a hundred pound weakling overcoming the impossible with the strength of David fighting the massive Goliath.

As I watch the weakened fall, I hand you strength to carry on in Him who is the Almighty Healer with an arm and hand stretched out to you and all you have to do is surrender your ALL [not just small portions ie: I’ll give up this but not that]. I believe it is at that time where you’re given too much to handle that you will find YOUR strength in enduring what God can do for you. 

1 Chron. 16:34 “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

I'm At A Standstill

Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

I’m at a standstill

Can you believe I need a break from writing? I’ve written and written and now I just want a break but as usual, I’ll ask the Lord what He wants me to do first. I've just had a tiring grumpy kind of week, so let me vent a little.

I’m bogged down with too much information and I’m dismayed by negative misinformation. You see, I live in a state that believes GMO’s are not harmful because their government put out a bulletin stating such. They believe crops should be sprayed with chemicals and ingested with no worry of harm. 

They also believe cannabis should not be legalized for medicinal usage because it will entice kids to smoke weed. Forgetting that their kids smoke weed WITHOUT marijuana being legal, but let’s keep the MEDICINAL USAGE away from people who NEED this PROVEN medical breakthrough!

They believe kids should be given twenty vaccines within a two year period and again, believe what the government feeds them. Instead of believing scientific factual statistics proving some of these vaccines are harmful to their kids, causing autism, ADHD or brain damage. 
Read this heartbreaking story. No, it’s not scientific facts, this is a human beings experience with vaccination! 

But guess what, some states are NOT ALLOWING the freedom of CHOICE to make the vaccination decision on your own! THAT is the America you live in, run by a mega-rich reality TV star and his family.

I live in a state that believes conventional methods are the ‘right’ methods and people and doctors who don’t believe in their conventional methods are ‘quacks’. So you can see what I’m up against here, while my other account on FB is for my family I have to basically abandon it if I’m to continue to heal.

You might want to note that even chiropractors were thought to be quacks at one time and now they are an accepted practice to healing the spinal problems this nation has. Maybe this being the twenty-first century and all, more of the conventionalists will come around and start accepting and allowing non-conventional treatment. I can’t afford to go to twenty different doctor’s to find one that’ll work WITH me, the closest Naturopath is over 100 miles away in Lincoln. All I have where I am is TWO (yup TWO) extremely conventional oncologists. 

While I usually go over to my other FB account to visit my nieces and all their baby pictures, I get bombarded by GMO’s are good posts. I’m slowly eliminating any view of the continuous feed of misinformed conventionalists. I am also subscribed to Breast Cancer Alternative Treatments and even they are depressing. While I go for support of other women doing the alternative route all over the world, there are too many women posting that they went conventional, are now sorry and need information to guide them. As much as I love helping people, I’m not at the stage where I feel knowledgeable enough to help in this field.

My healing is dependent upon love, friendship, support and positive flowing energy. I know all this ‘energy’ talk may go against your conventional methods but as you can read, I’m a quack amid the good company of men and women in the medical field that also are choosing to go against the grain of traditional methods to HEALING!

What I don’t understand is why is there even a market for the organic growing of fruits and vegetables, vegetarian fed chickens and meat, or raw milk if GMO’s are so healthy for you? You’re not going to tell me that vegetarians and vegans had this impact all by themselves. I think people realized you know what, why do those eggs fresh outta my friends chicken taste better than store bought processed eggs? 

Why are farmers afraid to admit that eating pesticides is like adding one too many dashes of salt to your food, you’re going to pay in the end. Is it all about money? Will they make less money and lose more crops if they DON’T use fungicides, pesticides, Round-up? I know there was a time when farmers used to depend on good ol’ God for taking care of their fields; I guess they gave that up to the rising economy. 

After going to the food store one too many heartbreaking times, I need to isolate myself from basically the world and all of the negativity. This is a sad world and it isn’t going to change because Joni’s sick. Nope, I have a funny feeling it is just going to get sicker and sicker, blinder and blinder, darkened and more darkened. And to think they wanted me to spend the last days hooked up to a poison machine? No thanks, I’ll drink in God and await His arrival. 

I have to thank my special friends who take their time and their money to think of me. When I get down and grumpy, I need to see some kind of light at the end of the tunnel and in all honesty, they are all I have besides God, to lift me up where I need to be… HEALING that’s where I need to be! You are truly a blessing to me. You know who you are. <3 and="" b="" hugs="" tight="">