you can handle. It is a well-intended statement, but ultimately it is

misleading. God does indeed put us in situations that overwhelm us and

cause us to despair. Paul tells the Corinthians that he and his friends

experienced exactly this in Asia. And then he goes on to tell them how

knowing Jesus transformed that experience from loss into gain. It is a

pattern that the Corinthian church was invited to follow and that we are

too! When we learn how to rely on the Lord, we find a deliverance and

hope that we can hold on to.