Thawing from the big freeze gives my mind much to think about

After the big freeze comes the time to relax from trying to survive this arctic chill that consumed our lives the past few days. The kids are back in school today since Christmas break and although I love having them home, I am enjoying some quiet time. But the quiet just gives me time to think about too much time on my hands.

I've been cleaning and getting things in order. I do not take my Christmas decorations down until after Epiphany which was Monday. I do that to remember that Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season, not the shopping and craziness of gift giving. I give gifts I just don't put as much time into it as others and I'm not financially endowed enough to do the things I'd like.

While relaxing my mind I came across a few pages online about special needs moms and was drawn to it because I am one of those too. A blog for Mommies of Miracles Twitter page and find others like us.

Then there was a post on Mommies of Miracles that caught my eye, "God will give you more than you can handle" and I gasped thinking why are you saying that? But then when I read it, I had a whole new outlook. I can remember a time I was grieving so many years over a rash of close family members who died. It seemed they were all dying at the same time and I was always wondering who was next.

It all started with when I lost my paternal grandmother a few days after my youngest son was born, the next year my maternal grandfather (my mom's dad) passed away and exactly one year later to the day we buried him my mother died, and that was the most devastating thing for me, she was my heart. She was ill but it didn't make her loss any easier, then my step-father (her husband) died a year and a few months later and followed by my great-aunt whom I was close. Then another devastating blow was my father diagnosed with cancer and dying 8 weeks after we were told.

Then a close friend's son was KIA in Afghanistan who was like a brother to two of my boys and the pain and loss brought back all of those feelings again, because I can tell you losing a child is the worst feeling in the world and watching his mom go through all of that pain and suffering was heart-wrenching. I recently lost my step-mother and I realize that dying is a part of living, we all have our time, but it is never easy to let go and we will never get over these losses they are a part of our journey in life.

My eyes got a glimpse of a post on Mommies of Miracles and I read God will give you more than you can handle...and I read why and it made sense and some of the comments made even more sense.

Jesus waited to go to Mary and Martha when He learned that Lazarus had died. And when he went to them, He saw Mary and Martha and they were crying. The Bible says, "Jesus wept." John 11:35 but He knew what He was going to do; he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus had such compassion on His friends Mary and Martha that when He saw that they were crying, He was deeply moved and cried with them. It was one of His many miracles.

The hard part of life is death. It is a true principle that God will give you more than you can handle because you have to be made low in order to open your heart for the Lord's spirit to enter. This is what the Bible says about not giving you more than you can handle.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond that you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (New International Version.)