"You're so strong!"

I think a lot of us have heard those words. And we think, "I'm not strong, I don't have a choice!" They're definitely not comforting words, although I know people mean well. The other one that I hear ALL THE TIME is that Heavenly Father doesn't give you anything you can't handle. Which since I've had Emily and especially since I lost her, I've felt is just not a true statement. I'm sorry, but that's what I think. And I know people who have gone through a lot more than me. And I could never figure out how to explain it to people without feeling like I was doubting God. But last week I went to Time Out for Women and heard Kris Belcher talk, who has had cancer in her eyes and had her eyes removed, and is of course blind. With 2 little kids. She said she would hear those two comments, "You're so strong," and "God wouldn't give you anything you couldn't handle," all the time and just think, "That's not true." And then she said something I loved. She said that we are given things that we can't handle. Why else would we need a Savior? Isn't that why Christ went through what he did for us? And I just LOVED that thought. Because it's true. The only way I've been able to deal with everything with Emily, both while she was here, and especially during the time she was dying and after she passed away, is through the atonement, and praying and asking Heavenly Father to let me give my burdens to my Savior and let him carry it for me, because I just couldn't do it myself. And the miracle is, he has! He has made it so that I can have peace and be happy, which for me is just amazing and I am so grateful for. And it is only through him. I couldn't "handle it" by myself. I've tried. It doesn't work.