A Trial More Than I Can Bear

 

Do you ever think that God sends a trial your way because you are weak and He wants to make you strong? People often repeat the quote,

God will never give me more than I can bear,

but that’s not true! He gives us situations that are more than we can handle so we’ll depend on His strength instead of our own! Let me tell you how He revealed that to me just recently.

For the last several years my husband has experienced hearing loss. He was told at one point that hearing aids would never help his type of loss. He was disheartened and decided to live with it. However, recently when it became even more difficult to deal with, he decided to go and get another opinion. This doctor encouraged him to just give the hearing aids a try, saying that if they didn’t work he could return them with no obligation.

Guess what? They worked!

Now came the paperwork and the BILL! We’re talking thousands of dollars, which we did not have!  When the hearing aids are ordered and delivered to the audiologist’s office, you’re expected to pay for them in FULL!  How could we do this?  This was a trial of huge proportions! Financial struggles can be overwhelming, can’t they?!

Because we didn’t have that kind of money stashed away, we weren’t sure how we would pay for them.  Then at about the same time, we received a credit card in the mail.  It was one of those 0% financing for one year.  We wondered if that would be our best option, and half decided that’s what we were “forced to do.”

You can see right here that God sent this trial, not because we were so weak, but because we were being too strong, doing what WE could do instead of trusting what HE could do!

The next day as my husband was having his Quiet time and I was having mine, we both came to the same conclusion about what God was saying to us – financing these hearing aids wasn’t God’s choice.  We needed to give this need to the Lord and just wait and trust His provision.

My husband visited the audiologist and told them that he was sorry for any trouble, but that we were going to wait for God to provide and then he would be back in to order another set.  They were very understanding.  The order was cancelled.

We prayed.

We prayed a lot.

We waited.

Several weeks later when the hearing issue was really frustrating at home, I cried out in my soul for God to provide so Dale could hear.  I didn’t know it, but at that same time of frustration, he, too, cried out for God’s intervention.

THAT DAY in the mail, he received a personal note from the audiologist’s office.  The gal there told him that God had put it on her heart to offer him a pair of Demo hearing aids (which is what he’d worn for his trial run!) for $500!!!!  No one gets these kind of hearing aids for $500!  She said if he was interested he could make an appointment for a fitting in the near future.  Oh, yes!  He was very interested!  The appointment was made.

THEN before he ever went for the fitting, he received an email stating that the $500 was also provided for by another means!   The total we owed was now $0!!!!   

Our own strength would have gotten us the hearing aids for thousands of dollars to be paid for over a year’s time.  Sure, we could do that.  But God’s strength provided the hearing aids for nothing!

Oh, friend, what hard thing are you facing today?  What trial has God brought to you?  Are you trying to handle it with your answers?  With your bravery?  With your wits?

Lay it down.

Wait.

Pray.

Trust the Lord to do what only He can do in His strength.  He wants to show you that your strength is not needed.  You need what He can do.  Be the weak one you are and trust His strength to provide, comfort, supply, heal, and answer.  This is more than you can bear, but it’s not too much for Him!  He wants to teach that lesson to you in a way you’ll never forget.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”
Isaiah 55:8

When I look in my husband’s ear and see that hearing aid tucked inside, I remember how God reminded me that I was too strong and needed to admit our weakness and watch what He could do!!  He did it!!!

Praise His name!!

What are you doing that you need to stop and allow God to take care of instead?