I like food… it’s good. But, I don’t like my food to touch; that’s a big no no! Sometimes, I even go to the extent of not having all the options at once so that there can be space between each item on my plate. I’ll make multiple trips, get more than one plate, whatever I need to do so that my food is not congregating to closely. Often, this can be a good thing because it causes me to get less of something so that I can have some of everything. Then, there are some foods that I just don’t like so they don’t get space anyway. I generally give the “no thank you” in the buffet line on these food items (the ones my momma made me eat growing up). Oh, and when they hover over my plate with what I do want, I give them a direct location for where I need it placed. Because, you know, most people live by the “it’s all going to one place” motto so they’ll slap my potato salad right on top of my macaroni if I let them. And if my food is touching, I probably won’t eat it. No, I will not eat it. My mind won’t allow me to eat that area where the potato salad meets the cheesiest part of the macaroni. Nope… can’t do it. Moral, I cannot have too much food on my plate.
Why do you care? Well, you probably don’t (unless you’re fixing my plate) but I have a point that I’m going to make to you…. starting now. See, God won’t ever allow us to be put in a space that He cannot help us in or rescue us from. He will not give us tasks or assignments that He will not grace us to complete. Well, lately, my plate has been uncomfortably full. Like, God Himself has been putting that potato salad dangerously close to that mac n cheese and I’ve been freaking out about it. Now, don’t misunderstand me, I do trust that He knows what He is doing and I know that He has placed me where I am. Long gone are the days that I do stuff just because I’m being “helpful”. Nope, I learned that anything outside of where God has me is disobedience, no matter how helpful I think I’m being. But, the things that He has called me to are so far outside of my own skill set and range of motion that I have often questioned if I am capable or ready. I have had numerous talks with God about how each new thing is stretching me more and more outside of where we originally discussed my capacity to be.
LOL! I had to laugh at my own thought. Of course He’s going to stretch me. What God has placed within me to do is bigger than me. It isn’t for me, but for Him. The motto holds true, “it’s all going to one place.” It’s all going to Him and that is why God can continually add to my “plate” and nothing falls off, even though it seems that I’ll drop it at any time. The key is not to rely on my own strength, but His. The Bible says, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, that God’s grace is enough for me. “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Lately, I have had to rely on God’s strength more than ever because I do feel weakened by the assignments that He has placed on my syllabus. But that’s the point, to rely on Him, not ourselves or others. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” Psalms 118:8
There are even things on my plate that I didn’t ask for, those seem to be the things that fill the space between what I actually “chose” to do. I use the word “chose” lightly because I do what God called me to do and allows me to do. But there are some things that are a lot farther up on my list than others. Those less preferred things are the ones that are helping me to grow into who I am to be and in areas of my life that I didn’t realize existed. They are things that I would have never imagined myself doing. I’d placed myself in a box years ago and thought that I would never get outside of it. Little did I know that God would destroy it, so much so that I had not choice but to step out of the rubble.
So, what I am saying to you is, let God fill your plate. He won’t overfill it, though it seems that He has. The things that you cannot “digest”, He will handle for you. Those things that “touch” in areas that you don’t prefer, He filled those spaces on purpose. So that you may grow the way He wants you to. Growing up, we were told that if we didn’t eat our vegetables, we wouldn’t grow big and strong. Consider the stuff you don’t want to be your veggies; ready to make you “big and strong.” Trust Him to know what is best for you. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5). The things that He is “feeding” you will strengthen you. 1 Peter 5:10 says, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” The New Living Translation says, “In his kindness God called you to share his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.”
Remember Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Don’t freak out… God’s got you!
Love y’all (I really do!),
Ms. A.M.White
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