As kids, my brother and sister and I used to look forward to the occasional opportunity to wrestle with our dad on the living room floor.  For some reason we pronounced it "rassle" and it was pretty much a free-for-all!  Our daddy was a county deputy and he always seemed to have some special move up his sleeve.  He would get one or the other of us pinned down and start the whisker rub.  I tried to tough it out when I was in this uncomfortable situation; after all, I was born believing I am one tough chick.  But at some point even I would give in and holler "Uncle!" when I thought I had had enough.

Yesterday was one of those days when I wanted to holler out to my Heavenly Father and shout "Uncle!"  It was no one thing, it was just one of those tough days when everything was a challenge.  The Bible is clear that God will not give us more than we can take, but so many times I wonder how much more my Father thinks I can endure!  At the end of one of those days I just want some milk and cookies and my nice soft bed.  I feel like that is my due reward for toughing it out.

I suppose you can already see the comparison here.  It's not that deep of a thought!  Just like my daddy would pull some new move on us and make us work a little harder to tackle him, my Heavenly Father sends new things to me and makes me look at my life just a little differently in order to tackle the challenge of the day.  And, let's face it, it seemed like a much more palatable choice to holler "Uncle!" and get the whisker rub over with so we could get back to the fun than to just wait it out for my daddy to decide to stop! :-)  And I guess there are alot of tough days when I give in pretty quickly and try to holler "Uncle!" to my Heavenly Father so I can be done with the challenge and just get back to the usual routine.  But I wouldn't have this special little memory of my daddy and my siblings and I "rasseling" around and being tough with each other if I just hollered "Uncle!" at the first rub of the cheek.  And I wouldn't have stories in my heart of times when God made me tougher....or softer.....or more humble....because of the challenges He brought to me if I had given up every time it was a bit uncomfortable.

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for making me face challenges each day that make me stronger in You.  Thank You for not always listening when I started to holler "Uncle!" but You knew the lesson I needed!  Ps 73:26