“God won’t give you more than you can handle.”
I’m sure you’re heard this phrase thrown around almost dismissively, maybe after baring your soul to someone. Maybe they meant it in an encouraging way, but it can definitely rub you the wrong way.
I don’t necessarily agree with that statement. What if instead God doesn’t give us more blessings than we can handle, but He absolutely gives us adversities that we can’t handle without Him? What if the struggle is actually preparation for the outpouring of blessings we’ll receive if we don’t give up?
This isn’t about financial struggle but divine preparation. Maybe we aren’t receiving blessings because we’re not ready for them yet. Maybe we’re struggling to prepare ourselves and to acquire the skills we’ll need to properly steward the future blessings.
Instant Gratification vs The Long Game
The Devil’s Strategy: Instant Gratification
I didn’t realize I had a shopping addiction until we started to deal with financial stress. When I was down, I’d go treat myself. I’d peruse the sale racks for anything even if I didn’t need anything. I just wanted to buy something for the sake of buying something. And my love language being gifts and gift-giving made it even harder to resist.
Instant gratification promises immediate satisfaction without considering the consequences. Emotional shopping and retail therapy promises to make you feel better after buying something but ignores any financial strain. Consumer culture promises immediate happiness, and influencer culture tells us “you need this NOW to be happy.” When I was depressed, I used shopping and treating myself to try and lift my spirits. I told myself “I deserve this.”
During maternity leave with my first baby, I took 6 extra weeks unpaid. When I was getting paid, I tithed regularly, but soon went into survival mode and said that “God will understand” and stopped tithing. After coming back from leave with my second baby, I was making a couple hundred dollars every two weeks.
I’ve heard countless stories of people who were struggling financially, basically homeless, but still tithed, insisting that God took care of them anyway. The guilt of not tithing while struggling financially made me wonder if our financial stress was because I wasn’t being faithful enough. So, then I started tithing 10% of my already tight income but still nothing changed. I prayed and asked, “God, what am I supposed to be learning? What are You trying to teach me?”
God’s Strategy: The Long Game
Where the devil promises instant gratification, God plays the long game. He prepares us to handle the bigger blessings so we don’t squander them away. He teaches us to be good stewards of all our possessions, not just money. Our character needs to develop before our promotions. Right now, I’m learning financial responsibility through the consequences of my actions. I believe ARMR hasn’t taken off yet because I’m still learning to be a good steward of my blessings. Think of Joseph. He did everything right and still ended up in chains for years. But God was preparing him to save a nation.
Sometimes we have to spend some time in prison before we make it to the palace.
Preparation, Not Punishment
“Why is this happening to me? Am I being punished?” This is what I’d get stuck on when getting overwhelmed by all the payments I was making. I’ve tried to shift my thinking to “God is preparing me to steward the bigger blessings I’m asking for.”
Wrestling with “Look at the Birds”
Traditionally, we’ve been taught that God will always provide, so don’t worry about money. “Look at the birds…your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable?” (Matthew 6:26). But I’m sitting here wondering where the provision is. We’re not destitute by any means. We’re living in the messy middle where a lot of other Christians live. We’re not financially free, but we’re still learning.
If God provides for the birds who don’t work, why are we so financially stressed? What does God’s provision look like in real life when bills are due? I wondered if God was waiting for me to make a big leap of faith and quit my job to pursue ARMR full-time and then He’d bless us. I wrestle with pulling my kids from daycare to homeschool them and “trust Him to provide”. How do you “look at the birds” when you have actual responsibilities and people depending on you?
Christian culture can make you feel guilty for being practical sometimes. It’s like we have to choose between being faithful and being responsible, like they’re opposites. We can either make a dramatic leap of faith and “really” trust God or stay practical and keep working, “not walking in faith”.
The Prayer Revelation
But I realized in prayer this morning, God IS providing, just not how I expected. His provision includes preparation, timing, and lessons. Why would He bless me with financial blessings if I haven’t learned financial responsibility yet?
He’s not withholding blessings as punishment. He’s giving me exactly what I need for what’s coming next.
God’s provision actually includes preparation, teaching me financial stewardship before ARMR grows bigger. He’s helping my character develop and helping me build skills I’ll need for future blessings. I keep asking Him for more direction but all I get is, “just keep writing”. “Yeah, but what should I do about x, y, and z?” I ask, and still I get, “Just keep writing.” I want a detailed business plan, but He gives me one sentence. Maybe that’s exactly the point.
Adversity as Divine Preparation
I’m finally willing to learn what God wants to teach me. I couldn’t understand true stewardship without financially struggling. I would have no reason to learn financial responsibility and boundaries. I wouldn’t understand contentment versus “never enough” syndrome. And I wouldn’t know when to trust and when to take action. I’m learning patience in the process, wisdom with resources, trust in God’s timing, and gratitude for what I do have.
The Mental Health Connection
How Instant Gratification Destroys Mental Health
It’s no wonder the enemy attaches himself to instant gratification. Shopping promises dopamine but delivers debt stress. This creates a consumer culture depression. We get addicted to buying things: we feel bad, buy something, feel a temporary high, feel guilty and stressed, and repeat it all over again. We’re convinced we never have enough and constantly worry about resources. Influencer culture targets our insecurities and says “you need this to be worthy.” I remember looking around at all my stuff one day thinking, “I didn’t need to buy any of this.” I’ve tried to shift my perspective: just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean I need it. I make myself pause and think “do I really need this?” Most of the time, I’m able to put it back and step away.
God’s Long Game Builds Mental Health
In contrast, God makes us play the long game to build us up, not to punish us for “lack of faith”. There’s a purpose in struggle, even if we can’t see it yet. Knowing there’s a reason changes everything and gives us a little more motivation to keep moving and growing. We can have hope in preparation knowing God is getting us ready for something bigger.
Instead of being a victim of our circumstances, what if we’re someone who’s being prepared?
We can have mental peace in understanding God’s process instead of wondering if we’re being punished.
This isn’t to say we’ll be perfectly patient and okay with how long the process is sometimes. We won’t understand the process itself, and it might take longer than we’d like. I’ve been writing ARMR for 8 months now and am still waiting for it to pick up. I won’t lie; I’m getting impatient and have to refer to Galatians 6:9 almost every day. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
So I’ll keep chugging along and do my part and let God do His part. If you’re getting impatient with God’s process, don’t worry. You are human. You’re not any more or less faithful if you have bouts of exhaustion or impatience.
Practical Preparation Signs
We don’t want to read too far into situations that may not be divine preparation while also staying aware that some struggles may not be random after all. So how can we differentiate between the two?
How to Recognize Divine Preparation versus Random Struggles
Timing patterns usually arise with divine preparation. The lessons being learned usually align with future needs and seem weirdly coincidental. Maybe your character starts changing and developing throughout the struggle. Instead of just suffering, you’re also able to learn and grow from the hard times. You might be learning specific skills that will be needed in the future. Maybe while praying you receive divine confirmations: like I keep hearing “just keep writing”.
Other times, we have to give in to the preparation process. Maybe we finally decide to surrender to the process and say, “I’m finally willing to learn.” When I first started writing ARMR Collective, I was terrified, but had to trust that God would give me the words. We also need to take responsibility while also trusting in God’s provision. Sometimes this looks like staying in your job a little longer while building on the side. Or maybe it means giving up one of your wants to make room for God’s wants. We can learn lessons thoroughly instead of rushing through them and set boundaries with instant gratification culture. Instead of identifying ourselves as our current rocky circumstances, we can find ourselves in God’s preparation.
Hope & Expectation
The Bible says, “To whom much is given, much is required” (Luke 12:48). Maybe we should stop looking at the things we lack as a punishment and realize that we still have lessons to learn before God blesses us. I’m impatiently waiting for ARMR to take off while learning financial responsibility and self-discipline that I’ll need once it finally does. We can reframe our thoughts as “not struggling, preparing” and “God is getting me ready.” This doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to be impatient—we’re human. We can trust His time for our promotion and manage our current resources faithfully: tithing our 10% even when money feels tight. And we can find joy in the process, trusting that God is preparing us for whatever He has next.
What skills is God developing in you right now? How might your current challenges prepare you for future blessings?
