You Aren't Enough...

Before you get mad and storm off, hang tight with me. This post may sound negative, but it is actually quite the opposite, I promise.

Enough. What is enough? Pretty enough. Rich enough. Thoughtful enough. Strong enough. Thin enough. The list goes on and on. I've struggled since adolescence and most of my young adult life trying to be enough or questioning whether I was enough. Actually, in recent years, it was my prayer and plea to God to show me that I was enough. How naive I have been.

Be definition according to the Oxford dictionary, enough means having "as much or as many as required."

As I began to search and study scripture, I am actually excited that contrary to what I wanted to be true, God has told me that I am not enough. And fortunately, neither are you dear friend. Hear me out for a second. Not in a woe is me way, or in a self-deprecating way, but in the fact that we can never be enough on our own. The truth is that I am not perfect, and I mess up every single day in one way or another. I am not able to provide for myself what is required. I am not enough...on my own. You and I have a Creator who purposefully designed us to rely on Him.

There is a popular saying in our culture right now that says, "you are enough", "you are more than enough", maybe you have heard, "you are enough just as you are". Yes, that sounds nice and encouraging at face value and I too have made the mistake of buying into this cultural lie for many years, but the truth is, I am not enough, and neither are you. The truth is that you and I are always going to be imperfect and fall short. To believe a lie that says we can be enough and are enough just as we are, feels overwhelmingly defeating and discouraging. The weight of needing to be enough all on my own, to be perfect, is just too heavy to carry. So, I'm putting it down.

Now to the good stuff! Although you and I are not enough on our own, because we are not perfect, there is ONE who is. Jesus. Jesus is the only perfect one and when we make Him the center of our lives and of our hearts, His enoughness covers our inadequacies and our flaws. Jesus fills in all the gaps that you and I have as imperfect humans. In fact, it is through our inadequacies and imperfections that God's perfection and power are able to be seen so much more clearly.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

I feel like the heaviest weight has been lifted off my back trying to always measure up or be perfect and to be enough for everyone around me. As Paul wrote in His letter to the Corinthians, I too will boast in my weakness, in my inability to be enough, because it is in my imperfections the truth that Jesus Himself is the only one who can ever be enough, and I need Him greatly!

Let's rest in the truth that God is enough and with Him He gives us everything that is required to handle the trials and turbulations of life.

I pray that as I learn to live out this truth in my own life that I can instill this in my kids as well. That they can know, without a shadow of doubt that their worth and value does not come from their ability to "be enough" or get it right. To know they have a Creator that designed them to need Him. And we do too! It is okay to not be enough, because God is. He is the only one who can get it right every single time. We can trust Him to be enough for us today, tomorrow, and every day to come.

Love you mama!