When Can't Becomes Can

[Guest post by Myána Chartese: We all know those times when accomplishing something seems like an insurmountable task. Here, through her son, Myána describes when can’t becomes can.]

Being a mother is one of the most precious gifts you can receive from the Lord, and I’ve learned more about the nature of God and the love of God during motherhood, than I have from anything else that I’ve been graced to do throughout my journey in life.

Most recently I was in the basement ironing clothes and my son came downstairs to join me, and there was a particular toy that he wanted me to take upstairs for him in the middle of my ironing. At first I told him that I didn’t want that toy upstairs because it was kind of big, but he insisted, so I told him that if he could get it up there on his own he could play with it upstairs.

For me to take the toy up the steps was nothing, but for a four year old it could prove to be quite difficult. His reply to my offer was, “I’m not strong enough yet to take it upstairs.” I reassured him that he was, so onward he trekked.

When he came to the first set of stairs, I could hear him from the other room struggling with it. I walked to the hallway in the basement and talked him through it, and then went back into the family room to continue ironing.

By the time he reached the second set of steps, he started to get frustrated and didn’t want to carry the load any longer and wanted someone else to do it for him.

As a result he started yelling, “I CAN’T DO IT!!!”

However, I wouldn’t allow him to give up! I talked to him from the bottom of the stairs that he had just climbed and told him, “Stop defeating yourself, you are strong enough! Look how far you’ve come, you’re almost there.”

I urged him to keep going and talked him through the last set of steps, and as he relied upon my voice and my instruction he made it to the top, and I of course celebrated his accomplishment.

He had a little smirk on his face that he didn’t want me to see because he was still mad that I didn’t do it for him. I knew that behind that smirk was a valuable lesson that my son learned and it was that he is more than able to do things that are uncomfortable, difficult, and takes more strength than he believes that he has for that moment. His I “can’t” became “I CAN,” and it is no different with us.

This experience reminded me of Paul’s thorn in the flesh and how he had implored the Lord three times and God still didn’t remove the thorn. He allowed Paul to go through it because he was equipped to handle it, and so are YOU!!! 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 in the Amplified Bible says,

“But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and ^[^b^]show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may ^[^c^]pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!

¹So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [^[^d^]in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful ^[^e^]in divine strength).”

There is an important message found in 2 Corinthians 12 that should inspire all of us to receive the grace of God to push through challenges, and not to give up when God doesn’t answer our prayers in the way that we thought that he should, or in the timing that we insist upon.

We learn in these moments just how resilient and powerful we are, all while God’s strength perfects our weaknesses. When we finally get to the END of ourselves, and our need to wrestle with whatever our “thorn” is, we allow God’s glory to be seen in us, and that is what fortifies us to rely upon His voice and His instruction, so that when we get to the place that we don’t believe we are strong enough, and ready to give up we are then made able to make it through that test, accomplish that goal, and have the great privilege of saying, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

And we know that at the end of it all there is a crown of righteousness for our, I CAN.

Myána Chartese, a native of Clinton, MD centers her writing on faith. Besides her blog myanachartese.com, she loves exploring writing poetry, plays, short stories, songs and movies. She published her first book in 2012, The Memoir of a Red Bottom Shoe, and her 2^nd book Super Faith (a children’s book) is set to be released shortly. Myána has a heart for God and desires to empower, encourage, and uplift women through the ministry of writing and public speaking.