At My Breaking Point

          A friend of mine has recently been dealing with a lot of issues.  They range from health concerns to relationship problems both within her family and out.  She isn’t necessarily the one with the problem, but is in reasonably close proximity to those who are suffering.

            She said recently, “I’ve reached my breaking point.  I can’t take one more thing!  It seems every day something new shows up.  How much more am I expected to take without losing my mind?”

            I could relate to my friend because there have been times in my own life where the issues surrounding me seemed to be stacked higher than the Empire State Building!  I kept wondering when it would end.  The trials I faced ultimately, with God’s help, worked themselves out and I can look back on it with a degree of relief that those, at least, are over!

            We are human, defined and bound by the limitations of this world.  We slip and fall, crumble under the weight, and desire to break free of the chains that seem to never let us go!  When we give in to the stress and “hard knocks” life has doled out, we give up on God, too.  He has entrusted us with specific gifts to deal with anything that comes our way.  Sometimes we have to dig deep to find the gifts, but we’re designed to make it through!

            What’s more, we are also designed to reach for someone greater than we!  We have a God who picks up the pieces and fragments and puts them back in the right places that allow us to once again have peace.  We have the resource to take the focus off ourselves and turn it back on God.

            This is not much different than when Moses, in his anger, broke the Holy Tablets he had carried down from Mount Sinai.  He lost his temper and threw the Tablets down, shattering them to pieces.  But when he reached for God, with a broken heart over not only what the people had done, but what his wrath against the people caused, God in his mercy offered to inscribe the tables once again.

            We ask why do bad things happen to good people….and why do good things happen to bad people?  Life is often indiscriminate to status when it comes to circumstances beyond our control.  We all face disease and illness, death and heartache, financial and economic struggles, weather disasters, relationship strains, employment concerns, and general life pressures.  These are human conditions.

            God is infinite, yet understands all our dilemmas.  And He has the answer for anything our circumstances create.  But we must be willing to ask him for help and willing to admit our failures.  It is with a broken and contrite heart that God can meet us.

            I challenge you to go to Him in prayer with whatever problems you are encountering, in any area of your life.  He is there waiting to grant guidance and wisdom, forgiveness (if necessary) and direction if you really want it.