Nate Pyle - More Than You Can Handle: When Lifes Overwhelming Pain Meets Gods Overcoming Grace

CONTENTS

PRAISE FOR MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE

There is no shortage of shelves lined with well-intentioned books about how to handle our pain. How in the face of utter devastation to maintain some sort of strong Christian posture. How to preserve ones biblical integrity in the face of searing loss. Those books are the worst. Thank God for Nate Pyle and More Than You Can Handle. In this book, Nate generously holds endless space for the moments of agony that leave us breathless, wordless, crushed, and trembling. He holds that space well, because he has sat in it. He draws deeply from his own story, along with the broken pieces of the stories of other people he has lovingly shepherded over time. And somehow, without attempting to answer the answerless, he gently points to the story God has been telling in the lives of his children from the Genesis garden to the present day. It seems nearly impossible these days to be a trusted leader who still manages to hold hands with those who follow along. I felt carefully led, and my hand felt safely held.

NICHOLE NORDEMAN, songwriter, recording artist, author

The book of Proverbs sets forth an ordered world where fearing God and doing what is right are rewarded with blessing. And it surely does help us order our lives according to wisdom. But its not the whole story. We also have the book of Job in our Bibles. Job acknowledges a painful world of deep disorder that we cannot control and cannot handle. The well-worn aphorism God wont give you more than you can handle is proverbial, but its not the whole story. Nate Pyle adopts the unflinching honesty of Job to lead us past empty clichs and into the unfathomable mystery of grace. More Than You Can Handle is an honest and beautiful book for those overwhelmed by pain who need more than a quaint platitude.

BRIAN ZAHND, pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, and author of Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God and Postcards from Babylon

Nate Pyle is more than a guide; hes a pastor, a shepherd, for our souls when we are suffering and overwhelmed. This book may not take away your pain, but it will pastor you on the journey through and into the possibilities of hope.

SARAH BESSEY, author of Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith and Jesus Feminist

Too often, Christian culture encourages the faithful to wallpaper over the gritty and difficult world we live in. More Than You Can Handle is a book about what happens when people of faith start to live in the world instead of trying to hide from it.

MIKE McHARGUE, host of The Liturgists podcast and Ask Science Mike

More Than You Can Handle is an invitation to walk through pain and suffering with words far truer than the trite ones were often offered. For anyone who has ever felt dismissed by griefs greatest maximshere, a hand to hold.

ERIN LOECHNER, author of Chasing Slow

Real life is hardly ever like a fairy tale or a ninety-minute romcom. Life rarely offers seamless transitions, easy answers, or endings tied up neatly with a bow. Instead, what we get is a fistful of unanswered questions, blazing heartbreaks, and sleepless nights filled with worry and fear. Nate Pyle doesnt offer pat answers or surefire steps to follow to avoid the messiness of life, and thats why this book is a must-readwhether youre in the middle of a storm, just coming out of a storm, or headed into a storm. This is one mans beautiful story of putting one foot in front of the other, even when theres no promise that all will be well.

DEIDRA RIGGS, author, speaker, disco lover

Nate Pyle reveals how a thoughtful pastor processes loss, grief, and hope in real time. With his signature authenticity, he bravely shows how he is learning to be faithful amid seasons that feel like more than you can handle. I hope his words will be an encouragement to others walking through the long valley and wrestling with the darkness. His is a work of honestyand hope.

KELLEY NIKONDEHA, author of Adopted: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World

Nate Pyles More Than You Can Handle is the companion youll turn to in moments of crisis, pain, and suffering to be reminded of Gods goodness and faithfulness. Nates pastoral heart warms every page, and the stories from his own life are proof that he lives what he preaches. Im so grateful for this book and for Nates wise counsel found inside it.

NISH WEISETH, co-host of the Impolite Company podcast and author of Speak: How Your Story Can Change the World

ZONDERVAN

More Than You Can Handle

Copyright 2019 by Nathan Pyle

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ISBN 978-0-310-34340-0 (softcover)
ISBN 978-0-310-35773-5 (audio)
ISBN 978-0-310-34342-4 (ebook)
Epub Edition January 2019 9780310343424

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For Evelyn

the next part of the story is yours to write.

W henever I got upset as a little boy, grown-ups would respond to my loud protests and tears with the standard inquiry, Scott, whats wrong?