A couple weeks ago I shared with you Misconceptions - Part 1 about how it is often misquoted that "God won't give you more than you can handle."  In that post, I shared that there were actually 2 misconceptions that I hear over and over again.  Today I'd like to share my response to the second one.

"Everything will be OK."

It's a simple 4 words.  Its easy to say, isn't it?  I know I'm 100% guilty of saying this to people in the past too.  I know when I've used this before it is because I genuinely want to make someone feel better, feel a sense that there is hope.  But you know what?  Sometimes things aren't OK, and even more rarely is EVERYTHING OK.  Its much easier to live in a world where we believe everything will be OK, but the reality is:

People die.
Babies die.
Bad things happen to amazing people.
Horrible accident claims lives all too soon.
Innocent little children get horrible diseases.
People get, suffer, and then die from cancer.

These things are not OK.  For the people they happen to things are not OK.

In my world right now, it does not feel OK.  I know that people want to have hope.  I do too, but sometimes that is not reality.  Yesterday that was not my reality.  I walked in a fog through a humid, hazy day, and I was sad... really, really sad.  Some days are better, but there hasn't be a day I've been OK since May 12th.  Maybe that qualifies me for a fast track to Prozac, or maybe it just makes me human. 

This might never be OK.  Maybe we'll have an amazing, happy ending, but maybe not either.  Even if we do get a happy ending, I'm not sure things will ever be just "OK" again.  I will never be able to deny that my view of the world has changed.  I feel like I might forever live in a fog where continuous streams of bad things can happen.  How would I live in a world without this baby?  Alternatively, how would I live in a world where I get my miracle, but the next person over doesn't?  There are plenty of people that don't get their happy endings, and everything is not OK for them.  They just have to survive, as best they can.  And, I too will survive, but everything will never be OK.

I’d like to share something that’s been on my heart. Please be assured that this is NOT targeted at any one person. This is just a commentary on things I hear day after day after day, that are wearing on my soul. This post is for me, it is not for you. I know that people’s comments, whether in real life, on facebook, blog comments, or email are meant to encourage. I really do. I am trying to look at the intent of people’s comments versus the content, but after enduring this now for a couple of months, I feel I need to address two common misconceptions I hear when people find out about our pregnancy situation. This post will be a two-parter – this is the first part. I am certainly not a theologian, so take this as my junior interpretation of what is probably the most controversial book in history.

I often receive comments from people (and I’m not just talking blog comments here) that “God will not give you more than you can handle.”   Honestly, I don't find this helpful… or even beyond that it isn’t even TRUE!

I personally didn’t think I’d ever read that in the Bible. So… I visited my trusty friend, Google, and looked it up. What I found was that this is one of the most misquoted verses in the Bible. The actual verse that people are thinking of is this:

“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.”
I Corinthians 10:13

Nope… not the same meaning! I had often thought that maybe the opposite was true – that we are purposefully given more than we can handle, so we can both grow and turn to God. Thanks to this great blog article, I found this like-minded thinker, and this verse:

“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
2 Corinthians 1:8-9

So… God might give us more than we can handle.

From a place of deep honesty, right now, God has given me WAY more than I, Sarah, can handle. I admit it. I am powerless, I am weak. I’m on the verge of a break down every day. I can’t even begin to think a month into the future, because I break down! I can’t begin to imagine how I will endure if this baby dies, and also if this baby lives. In all reality, it appears that we are going to be put through a ringer of hospital stays and surgeries in the coming year, maybe even YEARS. I have a full time job, I have bills to pay, and I have a 3 year old that needs me too. I can’t handle this… it is too much for me to bear. But every day I make it through somehow. Every day, I know that hundreds of people are lifting me and my family up in prayer. Many of you I don’t even know, but know this – some days it is those prayers that are the ONLY things that I know must be carrying me, because I certainly am NOT carrying myself.

So…God gives us way more than we can handle sometimes, but he is faithful to carry us through. That is a truth I believe.