I grew up as a missionary kid in southwestern Mexico. Life on the mission field wasn't easy for my parents, and having a rambunctious son, to put it lightly, probably didn't help the situation.

One day, when I had done something wrong, I found out that my discipline would be to do extra work. (This, by the way, was a really good idea for a kid with lots of energy). We lived near the base of a small mountain with a dirt road that led up to our house. In the rainy season, the water would rush down the hillside and onto our road and wash it out so badly that we couldn't drive home. Even walking was precarious because of how badly the road was carved out.

My dad thought it would be a good idea to fill in the worst part of the street with some truckloads of dirt and rocks so we could pass. Unfortunately for me, that was the day I decided to misbehave badly enough to merit special treatment. I ended up in front of the mountain of dirt that covered our road, with only a shovel, a rake, and a tamper. My job was to level the mountain, fill in the holes, and tamp it.

I remember looking at the pile of dirt and being so overwhelmed that all I could do was plop down on the side of the dirt pile. It seemed like an impossible task. After all, I thought helplessly, I was just a kid. This is something a bulldozer should do, not a kid with a shovel!

Have you ever felt like that—like there's no way you could possibly do what lies in front of you? Maybe you're facing a mountain in your family and you don't know how to move it or get around it. Maybe your financial situation looks like it's just too difficult. It could be that you are overwhelmed by a combination of things; I know I've been there.

I was definitely there that day when I was working on the road. After receiving some encouragement from my parents, which may or may not have involved mention of other possible forms of punishment, I started working and was able to get the job done with the tools that had been given to me. I really did have everything I needed. Once my Dad saw that I was working hard at leveling the pile and I wasn't going to quit, he came out and helped me finish it off.

Where do you get your power when you're facing obstacles that seem too big to handle? Where do you get your power to do what you are called to do? God knew that we would not be able to effectively face all the excitement and challenges of life alone, so He made a way for us to tap into supernatural power. Jesus talked about this in John 14, 15, and 16 where He told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would no longer be with them, but in them!

In Luke and Acts, Jesus told His disciples to go into the city and wait for power from above. He said He would give them power to do what He was calling them to do. It was so important to Jesus that He told His disciples to wait until the Holy Spirit came! That same power is available to all of us today! Second Peter 1:3 says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."

God's power has given us everything we need to live for Him…everything we need to move that mountain or find a way around it…everything we need to face the difficulties and challenges of life…everything we need for what He has called us to do! But there's a difference between knowing about His power and experiencing it. Ephesians 3:16-21 says:

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Immeasurably more = exceeding abundantly above = way, Way, WAY More! God will do way, Way, WAY more than all we ask or imagine through Him at work within us! We must experience His power within us! If we try to rely on our own strength, we have every reason to be overwhelmed, but if we are being filled with the Holy Spirit and spending time in relationship with Him, His power will flow through us to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!

--Pastor Sam Snyder