I’ve become a broken record. The needle in every conversation is firmly stuck in the groove of limits. The more that I think about limits, the more I see them. I’m not sure if that thought is encouraging or discouraging—the answer varies daily. 

My limits, though, aren’t the same as yours. That’s a simple truth, but an important one for us to embrace. I could avoid so much comparison and envy if I paused to remember that God, in his perfect wisdom and goodness, has drawn different boundary lines for you than for me. Mine aren’t good and yours aren’t bad, or vice versa. They are simply unique because you and I are unique.

So how do we discover our particular limits? How can we begin to notice the boundary lines that God has drawn? I want to put limits into tidy labeled boxes and channel my inner Home Edit with a color-coded strategy. But the beauty of limits has been found not in structure and organization, but as I’ve discovered them in conversation with my Creator, who knows my frame (Ps. 103:14). 

Instead of categories, then, let me offer you some questions. They may feel scattered and random, but my hope is to give you examples to consider. These questions aren’t a checklist but prompts. Read them slowly (maybe more than once). If a question raises strong emotions, take note of them. As you read, try to identify 2-3 specific limits that apply to you today.

• In what areas do you feel stretched beyond comfort?
• What is being stretched? Your physical strength? Your capacity? Your time?
• To whom do you compare yourself?
• What are you comparing? Your ability? Your role or responsibility? Your relationships?
• What is unique about this season of your life? Do you idealize another season, whether past or future?
• Are you limited physically? Relationally? Financially?
• What makes you feel weak?

Maybe answering these questions leaves you feeling less-than. You’ve identified several limits and the walls feel like they’re closing in. You feel confined, small, and weak. You might be tempted to run away or look for affirmation that you are enough. But please stay here. Sit in the discomfort of naming your limits.

After all, the work of learning to live within limits begins with examining our relationship to them. It’s reframing our perspective, learning to see limits through the eyes of our Creator.

The limits that make me feel weakest are the instruments that God has used to draw me closer to him in dependence. In my weakness, again and again, his power is made perfect (2 Cor. 12:9). Like Paul, I can even boast in my weakness and limitations.

For example, I have a limited attention span. I struggle to write coherently in the evenings. I need good sleep, more hours than I usually allow myself. I’m an introvert who recharges in quiet, but I live alone and also need intentional time with friends. I am a student, which adds responsibility and limits my capacity for other commitments. I am single, which gives me a wider capacity relationally—yet not unlimited. 

Some of these limits may seem trivial, but each of them causes me to need God. When I encounter these limits, there’s a moment of clarity when, by God’s grace, I see what has always been true. These limits are reminders that I am created, dependent, and needy. And as Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has said, “Anything that makes me need God is a blessing.”¹

Anything that makes me need God is a blessing.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

Limits humble us. I have often thought of humility as my response to sin, but humility “begins with the knowledge that there is a good Creator Lord and we are the finite creatures he has made to live in fellowship with him.”² Limits remind me of my need, but they also point me to the One who meets my needs. They cause me to call to mind the Lord’s steadfast love and faithfulness (Lam. 3:21-23). They offer me the opportunity to walk by faith, in step with the Spirit, hemmed in, behind and before, with the Father’s hand upon me (Ps. 139:5). 

So rather than running from your limits, begin by embracing them. Let them remind you of what’s true—you need God. And that is a good thing.

¹ Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, “How to Show Strength and Dignity,” June 9, 2022, in Revive Our Hearts Podcast, https://www.reviveourhearts.com/podcast/revive-our-hearts/how-show-strength-and-dignity/.

² Kelly M. Kapic, You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2022), 103.