I could smell the smoke and charred food and I realized that something just wasn’t right. My heart began to race as I frantically ran to the kitchen and noticed that the oven was on fire.
Really God? Here I am trying to self-clean an oven and the remnants from my old cooking have burst into flames! On top of that the oven door is locked and I can’t even douse the fire with water. God, do you not see that I am in desperate need of help!?
Reaching over to get water from the sink, I nearly slip on a puddle that has now saturated my floor from a dishwasher that has malfunctioned and is leaking. As if it could not get any worse, I hear a “clankety clank” sound from the washing machine and yes, you guessed it, major problem!
Three appliances, all needing repairs and the next pay check is a week away. I have saved earnestly for a new outfit and now that is just not an option! My fourteen year old is yelling, “I have a game and you have not washed my shorts,” and then my husband walks through the door not noticing my state of panic, he grabs my hiney, (I know what he is thinking, ughhh…) and whispers,”What’s for dinner?” At that moment, my fleshly, sinful self wants to grab him by that suit jacket and shout, “I just can’t take it anymore!”
May I just get candid and share some truth with you? “I just can’t take it anymore” is a lie straight from hell from the devil himself! There have been times in my past that I have chosen not to only listen to that lie, but I allowed it to saturate my mind. I have been guilty of living so far down in the pit of “woe is me” that I became comfortable. As a matter of fact, I decided to camp out there for a while. I got so content in my pit of fears and frustrations and anxiety that (if this makes any sense) I began to hang pictures on my wall, decorate my pit, kick my feet back on my imaginary recliner, grab a jar of peanut butter and a Dove chocolate bar and throw myself a “pity party” for one!
In the book Lies Women Believe by Nancy DeMoss, she reminds us that to be set free from a lie you have to counter it with the truth. The truth for my situation was that I needed to trust and believe that my GOD’S grace is sufficient for me. As Nancy so beautifully shares, “His grace is sufficient for every moment, every circumstance, every detail, every need, and every failure of my life.”
When I am exhausted mentally from a long day of chores, from a speaking engagement, or work at the office and one of my children decides to take a bite out of the other’s hamburger for no reason and World War III erupts, and I want to grab them by the seat of the pants and shout, I can’t take it anymore! Honey child, that is when I remind myself, HIS grace is sufficient for me. When I am down to $10 in my checking account on Wednesday and I realize that neither of us will get paid until Friday, and on Thursday the tire goes flat, the oil light comes on and the needle is on empty, I can choose to sink into depression or remind myself that HIS grace is sufficient for me!
Several months ago, I was lying in a hospital room as a radiologist began to share an unclear mammogram report. Immediately my mind was filled with fear and questions. On the same day, I left that appointment and went over to the dentist office where I had received a report of a possible cyst forming underneath my gum line. I won’t lie, I broke down right there in that dental chair. The first words that came to my mind, I just can’t take it anymore! You know what my Christian dentist shared in so many words with me? God’s grace is sufficient!
Some of you are feeling even right now that you just can’t go on. The bills and the debt are so overwhelming, you may be struggling with your health, maybe it is a prodigal child that has gone astray , maybe it is your marriage and everything just looks hopeless… Perhaps you are battling with some secret depression, low self-esteem, or an addiction, you look in the mirror and you feel so lost, so all alone and you want to cry out, I just can’t take it anymore! I want to remind you of this precious verse in the Bible, My grace is sufficient for you. 2 Corinthians 12:9.
“Stop listening to the enemy, setting your heart and mind on lies is like setting the radio dial to a trashy station. What feeds you, affects you.” Lysa TerKeurst
I just can’t take it anymore is a lie!! You can make it. Surround yourself with godly friends to encourage you, reach out for help, read the word of God, run to HIS arms, cry out to God, HIS grace is sufficient for you!
Beverly Weeks – http://www.intentionallyyours.org/
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