These days my lessons are coming clearer to me. I don’t always understand why, but lately I find myself gaining deeper insight. I sense that God is testing my limits. If you are like me, you do not like having limits, especially if it is something you think you can do. God puts limits on us so that we can learn the important lesson of letting God be God and me be me.

When you are doing God’s work for Him, it will always end in disaster. I know this from personal experience. I’m finding greater joy by seeing the boundaries He has placed before me and accepting that His wisdom is far above mine.

A recent example occurred when my husband and I were driving on a highway and were the first car behind a terrible accident. There was an hysterical mother and an injured child. God sent an EMT and a nurse to be there for the child. I had to wonder why He had me there because I could not go down into the ravine to help the woman calm down. My back injury made it impossible for me to be there for her. I was limited to prayer. In my wisdom it seemed a waste. Yet, in God’s wisdom prayer was exactly what He had for me to do in this situation.
I believe Isaiah 55:9 better than ever. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Life with limits is starting to make sense to me. Rather than tell God what to do in my prayers, I’m beginning to enjoy the reality of letting the heights of the heavens teach me the heights of God’s wisdom over mine.

I have a limited view of what this life is all about and God sees it all. He knows the beginning and the end. He has a perspective that I cannot see. This is what I mean when I say I’m getting it. It’s not that I have God’s thoughts and that I have understanding of the complicated realities of living in a sinful world. Rather I have confidence that God has thought it all out and has decided that this is the best way.

Don’t get me wrong; accepting my limits is not an easy task. At the present time I am limited in what I can do with my body because of my injury. All the ways I could exercise and hike and bend with my body are now on my do not attempt list until I heal. I appreciate the things that I used to be able to do better now. I didn’t know how blessed I was to be able to walk fast with my husband for aerobic exercise. I can’t wait to get healed so I can go back to my normal life, even reaching down to a lower drawer is a task that needs thought and planning now.

Accepting God’s limits hasn’t been easy, but it I do understand the spiritual lesson here. I keep reminding myself that God is God and that He does His work in His way. My privilege is to join Him in His work and not try to take over what He has planned. I don’t like my limits, but it is starting to make sense to me.