What do you do when God asks you to face the impossible?

The years I spent raising my kids were some of the best days of my life. I remember feeling so thankful for those four incredible blessings and thinking, God, I can handle just about anything. But I could never handle losing one of my kids. So whatever you send my way, I will deal with. But PLEASE not that.

So what do you do when your biggest fear comes true? What do you do when God gives you more than you can handle?

You have no choice. You plow through.

Psalm 91:1 is a beautiful description of what it looks like to continue through an impossible, unimaginable, seemingly unendurable situation. Or any difficult situation, really.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

I love how the psalmist (most likely either David or Moses) refers to the One in whom we are to dwell. He is “Most High” and “Almighty.” Our culture today seems to diminish who God is. We are surrounded with messages like “Control your destiny!” and “Follow your Heart!” and “Find your Inner Strength!” which give us a false sense of our own abilities. It is easy to become self-reliant and feel like we always have to take control. But that is contrary to what the Bible says.

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 says, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, you are exalted as head over all.”

Colossians 1:17 states, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

Isaiah 45:7 tells us, “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.”

Job 12:10 reminds us, “In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”

What better place could there be, than within the shelter and under the protection of the One who holds all eternity, who loves us and knows what is best for us, even when we don’t understand? 

And the word “abide” is the perfect description of how we remain within the Almighty’s care. Here are some definitions of “abide.”

To bear patiently.

To endure without yielding.

To wait for.

To accept without objection.

To remain stable or fixed.

To continue in a place.

Healing and growth do not happen overnight. Contrary to popular belief, there are not five distinct stages of grief that a person goes through when they are suffering (sorry, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross). Life is a twisted tangle of emotions and experiences, with no order or timeline. It takes constant intention to abide within the care of our loving, protecting, almighty Father. Abiding takes patience, it takes perseverance, and it takes time. It means constantly pouring truths into our hearts by staying in God’s Word and communing with Him through worship and prayer.

And the reward of abiding is worth it! The end of Psalm 91 tells us of the wonderful promises that we receive from God when we abide in Him: 

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.

When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

What a beautiful reassurance that when we continue to put our trust in Him, He will be everything we need!

God, please help me today to continue to abide in your powerful and loving arms. I will patiently continue to wait and trust in You.