Can you handle it?

"I won't do anything I can't handle!"  That was the last thing I told my parents right before I unsuccessfully attempted to down hill ski a double-black diamond hill at 3 am my third time skiing!  Yes, I was out of control at times!

We were "all night skiing" with our youth group one Friday night my senior year of high school.  My friend and I had been skiing together and she began challenging me.  She was a very impressive skiier and I- well- I was one of those people that go side to side at all costs to keep from going too fast!  :)

I was always up for a challenge and she seemed to be having more fun than I was- so we both decided to take the challenge together- we would start on the easiest hill and ski down and meet at the bottom.  If neither of us fell at all, we would advance to the next level hill.  If we fell at all, we had to re-do that level until we both didn't fall! Seemed fun right? I had gone to the table my parents were at in the logde and told them where I would be...my mom said, "Misty, don't you dare do that!" I said, "okay, Mom, I won't!" My dad looked at me with those eyes and knew I was lying.  he said, "well, Misty, now you're lying to your mother."  That's when I replied, "Okay, mom, I won't do anything I can't handle!" And I walked off...my dad's exact words as I walked off were, " Well, we will see her in an hour with a broken leg."  I'm glad he didn't say a broken neck!

It was definitely fun while it lasted- Until about 3 am!  We were just finishing with the black diamond and neither of us fell, so we were advancing to the double black diamond!  So we got on the ski lift and up we went.  At the top of the hill, there was this GIGANTIC SIGN that read, "FOR EXPERT SKIIERS ONLY: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS HILL IF YOU CAN NOT:

STOP SUDDENLY
AVOID TREES
LAND A JUMP
etc, etc, you get the point!

None of those could I do! But it made sense to go down- I mean- I had successfully completed the prior level, right?

WRONG! I made it through all the trees I had to avoid, and started down the hill...it is estimated on that hill that the average skiier is traveling approximately 50 mph at this point!  And I am bookin it...and I am loving the rush! I know I can't stop- there's no way.  So as I'm skiing, I am seeing all these little 8 year old kids skiing circles around me and I am seeing everyone in front of me drop off somewhere and dissapear!  "Where in the world are they going?"  With not much time before I would disappear myself, I had to make a fast decision, so I fell- on purpose.  I let my pride of finishing successfully fall to the realization that THIS WAS WAY MORE THAN I COULD HANDLE!  There was a significant jump ahead and I knew once I attempted it, if I attempted it, there was a very high chance of me dying that night! So, I gave up...I fell. 

Let me explain something...falling vertically going 50 mph on long sticks with no brakes is not easy! I had to lean to the side to fall, almost as if I tried to just sit down.  My bravery had ordered trick skiis at the time of rental- which, of course, are harder to come off so they can stay on more securely during tricks!  So as I fell, my right ski popped off my boot, but my left ski- DID NOT.  My body goes rolling down this hill at 50 mph and my leg is not turning at all.  When I come to a stop,  the pain is overwhelming.  I look down and my foot is turned completely to the left and my knee is completely to the right!  I was screaming so loudly that my dad and sister heard me from the ski lift above me about 100 ft in the air.  They didn't know it was me, they just said they rememeber saying to each other, "Man, that person is in alot of pain!" They had no idea!

It took 4 hours to get me off that hill because I had fallen just before the big jump and snow mobiles were unable to rescue from above the jump..so there I laid for 4 hours as paramedics came via ski lift to decide how to get me down.  They knew my leg was broken for sure, not knowing if the bone was showing.  They also didn't know if anything else was injured, so they put me on a straight board and zipped me up in a body bag to keep me warm.   I had been laying on snow for 4 hours and was beginning to go into shock.  So they brilliantly decide the best way to get me off the hill was to have 4 paramedics ski me down the hill holding me on a big blanket while they held me up by the corners of the blanket.  They skiied me head first down the hill and I will not forget thinking that if  I wasn't already dead, I was either going to die riding down the rest of the hill or my mom was going to kill me for doing something I knew I couldn't handle!  You can imagine my mom's response as she watched from the First Aid area as they skiied her daughter down in a zipped up body bag!  It was not good! Thankfully, that was one of the only trips my parents had chaperoned our entire time in youth group!

6 months, one surgery, and a metal rod in my leg later, I was back! Never would I be the same, but I was back!

Had I accomplished something? For sure...I found my threshhold for what I could handle...that was about it!  When I graduated High School at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY, it was my first time walking on my own since the accident without crutches! 

For those few months, I had to rely on everyone else's hands and feet to serve me because I was unable to accomplish much of anything on my own!  The pain was tremendous and even it alone was way more than I could handle! 

I say all of that to say this:

My decision to go down that hill was a temptation...A temptation to do something I KNEW I couldn't handle! I chose to do it anyway! I could have decided NOT to attempt the most advanced hill that night, and God gave me a way out...my mom had just told me not to do it.  It was the last run of the night, and I wanted to be "bold"...so I did it anyway.  1 Corinthians 10:13 says this, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  but when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
Don't be mistaken- God can allow bad things to happen- and it doesn't mean he won't allow us to follow our own desires! He allows us to follow our own desires if we choose, but His Word tells us when he allows us to be tempted, He doesn't allow the temptation to be more than we can bear.  Once we make the decision to sin as a result of that temptation, I believe that is where we open the palette up for Satan to give us more pain than we can handle.  God still controls Satan, but at that point, we have given Satan a bit of power over us!  You see, being tempted is not the sin, acting on the temptation is the sin! Even Jesus was tempted to sin, but never did!

I was tempted that night we were skiing to disobey my mom.  I was given a perfect opportunity to escape, and I chose to boldy enter the "danger zone".  My pride took over and I wanted to prove myself, yet again, to everyone else!  I chose to give in to the temptation and I, as a result, was the one who ultimately had to pay for it through pain and guilt and my physical body never being the same!

What temptations are you facing? What are your struggles on this day? Is it smoking, drinking excessively, drugs, sexual desires before marriage, homosexuality, suicidal thoughts, pornography, sexting, or simply wanting what others have? Be encouraged!  WE are ALL tempted EVERY DAY!  But God has told us in His word as I mentioned above that- HE ALWAYS PROVIDES A WAY OUT!   I can promise there will be consequences when we claim to be able to "handle something" we were never meant to handle.  Avoid the consequences, and take the WAY OUT! No one said it was going to be easy, just said it would be worth it!  Brad used to tell us in youth group, "If you want to know what God's will is, look at what the world is doing- and do the complete opposite!"

Don't give into temptation today...stand up under it and take the WAY OUT! When we find ourselves in over our heads, and experiencing more than we can handle, rely on GOD to get us out!  Move to the eye of the storm- His comforting, calm hands, and rest.  For if we were always in something we could handle on our own, we wouldn't have such a NEED for GOD!