How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time… This is something one of my nursing instructors used to tell me when I’d get overwhelmed with the load I was carrying at that time. I was in school full time, working full time, and serving in the National Guard. Our Guard unit was in the process of preparing for deployment the following year, which means a lot of additional training and a lot of jumping through bureaucratic hoops.

As it turned out, my unit was going to deploy prior to when my nursing class would reach graduation. If I left without completing nursing school, I would have had to start over when I got home from overseas. It is probably easy for you to imagine the level of angst this put into my heart. However, God stepped in and, once again, made a way in the wilderness.

I was blessed with a truly outstanding group of nurses to provide guidance and expertise throughout my nursing education. The additional blessing is that they were (and are) all wonderful women of God. So, as I was faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, these women stepped up in a very significant way. First, the director of our nursing program got permission from the Board of Nursing and the President of the college to “accelerate” me through the program. What this meant was that I was going to be able to complete my last two semesters of nursing school simultaneously.

Now, for any of you who have been through nursing school, you know that one semester on its own is challenging enough, so you can probably guess how daunting it would be to face two semesters at once. For their part, each of my instructors took one second semester course, and agreed to instruct me one on one for that course. I would sit in their offices and go over the information, I would study the material a great deal on my own, and then I’d be back in their offices to take the exams for each section. At the same time, I would be attending classes with my fellow classmates, and doing the clinical rotations for both. Scheduling was tight, and I went without a lot of sleep during those 4-5 months. I continued to work full time at the hospital (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights), and still had my military obligations.

As overwhelming as this may seem, God made sure I had what I needed every step of the way. I had several friends at work who would help me with my studies, I had instructors who went well above and beyond the call of duty to educate me, I had a wonderful and supportive army family, and I had the support of my God-given family to help whenever and however they could. Yes, reaching the end of that semester and passing the licensure exam was one of my greatest achievements, but I would never have succeeded without the multitude of provisions God gave me along the way. It is the quintessential example of never having more than you can carry, no matter how much is put on your plate.

In the decade that has passed since the days of nursing school, I’ve often returned to those most useful words of wisdom on how to eat an elephant. Anything we face in life can only be accomplished one bit at a time…one day at a time…one minute at a time. When something feels too big, we must stop and break it down to the smallest bite possible. The question shouldn’t be, “How much am I going to need to eat in the end?” but instead, “What bite do I need to take right now?”

That is how Abraham faced the guidance of the Lord. He simply followed one instruction at a time, trusting that he would receive the next instruction when he needed it. Whatever we are facing in the moment is all we can, or need to handle. It is what God has equipped us for at that time and in that place. The things we are worried about facing later are often things we’re not ready to face, which is why we feel so uncomfortable when we try to face things that aren’t in front of us yet. We must remain confident in the Lord and hold on to our faith that He is always preparing us for what lies ahead. Our Heavenly Father will always send us to the store with enough money to buy what’s on our list!