The Myth

Blog Two: Mental Health

Opening Question: What is something you are going through right now that you can’t handle on your own? How can you give that to God today?

Bible Verse: Matthew 11:28-30

"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Now on to the Blog!

I remember hearing the phrase “God will never give you more than you can handle” when I was about 10 years old. It was probably on some cheesy hallmark card, and I read it around the time that I had my second open-heart surgery. I soon started to repeat that phase in my head, and not for encouragement. That phrase made me think that God made me, a 10-year-old child, go through life-altering pain and that he caused it. It made me think that I could handle it all on my own, that I just wasn’t strong enough or I was disappointing God if I fell apart. That phrase was an unwelcome company in my mental health struggles for years.

That very phrase “God will never give you more than you can handle” has underlying messages;

“You can handle it all by yourself, you shouldn’t ever have to ask for help.”; “God causes our pain and suffering.”; “I’m weak if I can’t hold it all together.”; “If I’m supposed to handle it all, then that must mean I’m in control.”

Those messages weigh heavily on the faith of us.

Regardless of what you have heard, what you have or haven’t learned about God, I want you to know that that way-too-common phrase is not true. It doesn’t display the type of people God created us to be, or who God is. God doesn’t cause your pain or “test” how much pain you can handle, he sits with you in that pain. God doesn’t want us to trudge through this life alone, God wants us to form relationships and to lean on our brothers and sisters in Christ. You weren't ever meant to handle it all.

We have the gift of Christ BECAUSE we can’t handle it all.

Let go of your pride. Let go of the belief that you are supposed to handle all of the struggles you face. Let go of thinking that God gives you your pain, simply because you can handle it. Let go of the belief that you always have to put on a strong face and get through it all alone. Surrender the things you were never meant to handle all on your own, and give those things to God. Not because you can’t handle them, but because He can.

Prayer:

Dear Lord,

A lot of us have the belief that you “never give us more than we can handle” hardwired into our brain.

We think that we need to be strong to keep ourselves together, to make you proud of us; to make you love us.

But God,

We need you. We desperately need you. To carry our burdens, to bear our hardships, to handle what we can’t.

Help us remember that today.

Amen.