I saw a shirt that said, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and then in smaller letters under that statement, it said “except bears, bears will kill you.”

This shirt came to mind as I was considering my message for this weekend. In a reading from the tenth chapter of 2 Corinthians, it said… “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Now, this may not come into play when fighting a bear, but it does apply to life.

How often have we heard, or said, “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle?”

This usually happens when there’s an accumulation of challenges in our lives. Someone may receive a cancer diagnosis… and then hear that their job may be eliminated… and their car’s transmission then fails… and that night, while having dinner, they hear the refrigerator make strange new noises. Aren’t these times when we cry out, “How much more?”

This is when we need to remember this passage. This is also when we should focus intently on a specific phrase: “he will also provide the way out.”

We often blame God for putting all of this on us. He’s not a puppet master. Our broken world brings adversity on to us constantly. Sometimes we blame ourselves because we feel we should be able to handle these adversities better. Well, adversity is part of life. It’s not that God’s trying to bring us to our wit’s end. What God does do, is help us handle the difficulties in life.

When times are tough we need to remember two things.

First of all, yes, we can’t handle everything alone. We’re not superhuman, and we’re not perfect. The key word here is “alone.”

It also leads us to the second part to remember. We can survive all tests if we recognize that God is with us.

This is why Jesus walks with us on our journey through life. He’s there to support, strengthen and guide us. He knows what we’re going through, because he faced human adversities, also. Adversity is also a big part of the Lenten journey.

During Lent we often give something up. The reason for giving something up, is to free up time, or provide a way to spend more time with Jesus Christ.

This is a time when we can add to our prayer time, or maybe add to our Bible study time.

Maybe we decide, for the first time, to read a daily devotional, such as Our Daily Bread.

It’s also a good time for us to think about how much we need Christ in our lives.

In Luke 22:42 Jesus says, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus faced great adversity, and at first, didn’t seem like he was handling it well. However, once he realized that he needed to accept his Father’s wishes, he changes how he views his coming death. We do the same with life. We need to also truly understand why we’re able to handle the adversities of life… when we include God on our own journey.

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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week’s column comes from Pastor Gary Shumway of Garman Lutheran Church in Pine Creek and Grace Lutheran Church in Jersey Shore.