Can you count the letter s in:
Special thanks to Ashley L. Jones for hosting this post on her website. Click over to BigSisterKnows.com for more godly encouragement.
Thanks to author Ashley L. Jones for hosting this week’s post on her blog at BigSisterKnows.com. Check out her site for more godly encouragement.
One of my favorite books is called I Dare You by William Danforth, and in it, he challenges his readers to live what he calls “the four-square life.” Following Jesus’ example in Luke 2:52, he dares us to grow mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially.
The other day, I was reading Mark 12:30 and realized that we are not only to grow in those key areas of our lives, but we’re also supposed to love God with four related areas.
Coincidence? I don’t think so!  What does that look like? Let’s dive a little deeper into these four areas and see what Scripture has to say.
In other words, love is more than a feeling but a choice, and we must exercise that choice in our relationship with God. He didn’t make us mindless robots, pre-programmed to love him. Instead, he gave us the privilege of deciding to love him and made it possible by loving us first.
In the educational world, we call that “modeling.” It means showing someone how to do something before expecting them to try. God modeled perfect love when he gave his own Son to mend the broken relationship between us and God, caused by man’s first and all consequential disobedience. By doing so, he offers restoration and the ability to love him back, “because he first loved us” (I John 4:19).
Choose to accept his salvation made possible through Christ’s sacrifice (John 3:16).
Choose to praise him when circumstances don’t go our way (I Thessalonians 5:18).
Choose holiness over what the world tells us is acceptable (I Thessalonians 4:3-7).
Choose an attitude of truth over how we feel at the time (Philippians 4:4-7).
The second way to love God is with our “soul.” Wait, aren’t the heart and soul similar? Isn’t “heart and soul” an expression to mean “all of me”? Or what’s the difference? I’m no Bible scholar, so I did some digging.
I paused on the word heartily, because it instantly reminded me of Colossians 3:23.
In other words, we’re supposed to love God with everything we’ve got, or, as my friend and author Ashley L. Jones often reminds us, with gusto!
Can you think of some ways we can do that? 
[i] Faith Bible Ministries Blog does an excellent job of breaking down the biblical meaning of heart if you’d like more information.
I’m grateful to my friend and blogger Ashley L. Jones of BigSisterKnows.com for sharing this encouraging post. Her biblical, honest approach to this topic of “too much to handle” was a blessing to me, and I hope it will be to you as well.
“God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” I’ve heard this saying all my life, always from well-meaning Christians.
But there have been plenty of times when I just couldn’t “handle.” After my grandmother passed away, I couldn’t handle the grief, and depression set in for two years. Later on, my body couldn’t handle what I was eating and the stress I was under, and I suffered with physical pain for several years. During those periods, hearing that God hadn’t actually given me more than I could handle felt disingenuous. What’s more, it added to my frustration and self-condemnation.
So let me give it to you straight: yes, God may give you more than you can handle.
 You will make mistakes. You may suffer from illness or grief. You may be called into a family role or ministry that is far more than you can do on your own. At some point, you’ll feel like you’re drowning.
Like Paul when he shared the Gospel to the Gentiles for the first time.
I’m speaking from experience here. During my times of grief and illness, I relied on God completely. He was my Comforter, Protector, and Guide. And in the end, it was He who healed me and made me whole.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jesus speaking, Matthew 11:29 NAS).
“We would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10 NAS).
“‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I have hope in Him” (Lamentations 3:24 NAS).
Platitudes may sound nice, but the Word of God is powerful. Let His Truth give you comfort and guidance in every season of life.
Have you ever needed a word of truth, only to receive an empty platitude? How did it make you feel? Does that experience encourage you to speak truth into the lives of your loved ones?

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In that passage, there are 245 occurrences of the letter "s."
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