Wednesday, October 14, 2015

You are Enough!

This truth has been really hitting me lately, that I am enough. How completely refreshing, knowing that I simply am enough! It's contrary to what the world tells us, and what we tell ourselves. I often feel the need to be improving, learning, and doing. I feel the need to better myself and strive towards, better. Better health, better wife, better mom, better at schedules, better at homeschooling, better at organizing... Life in general seems to find me constantly coming up short.



Generally it's a good thing to strive to learn and be productive and help those around you; but things can become unbalanced quickly when you feel yourself constantly coming up short. Notice I used the word "feel." Feelings are neither good nor bad, it's what you do with them and how you use them that dictate the good or bad that can come of your feelings.

So what do I do with my feelings of inadequacy? Normally I start with a list! And then that materializes into hours spent reading books, blogs, Pinterest, and compiling a four week plan! But where is all this getting me? And where is the bench mark for me to check if I am enough? We all know not to measure ourselves against others, so what do we use? Ourselves? Yesterday? Last year? I don't think any of those things are really useful in letting us know if we're doing alright long term. I have used all those comparisons, but yet somehow, at almost 30 years old I can't seem to ever feel like I have it together enough. I'm never quite balanced enough, doing enough. I constantly struggle with being enough.

So where do we go? Well, God's word of course! What does God say about us and how we should view and measure ourselves?

We all come up short and lacking!
For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God,
Romans 3:23


Rules and laws don't just show us what to do, they prove we can't always follow the rules and laws!
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Romans 3:20

So where do we turn?
 

God is all about grace and giving that grace to us! He saves us from messing up the rules and failing. Grace isn't a onetime thing, but a gift we receive every, single, day. Why? Because He loves us. It's His gift to us.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
Ephesians 2:8

We should stick close to God, because anything good we do will only be because of Him!
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5




We can boldly say, the Maker of Heaven and Earth helps ME! What more assurance do we need that we are going to be alright?!
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:2

It's always good to learn new things and how to run things around us a little more smoothly, but the things we do or don't do should never be an indicator of if we're "enough." Because we are never enough! Only God is enough. And it's only in Him that we are at rest. It's only when we are abiding, trusting and depending on God and His grace are we enough. It sounds simple doesn't it? Almost too easy? It is! It's simply-

enough.