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.

Good Morning Dear...

Good morning dear friend, and what a wonderful morning it is!

Not that there's anything specific about today or this morning compared to other mornings, but just the fact that it is morning makes my heart glad! I wasn't so glad on first waking up. Every inch of my body felt exhausted and I wanted to stay under the warm covers. The room was so cold and wrapped up in my little cocoon of snuggly warmth the last thing I was thankful for was the fact that it was time to get up!
But I got up, stumbled around a bit as I made hubby a lunch, and took out the dogs. After he left I sat there in the kitchen sipping my mug of hot water ( did I mention I lost my voice?!) staring blankly at the floor while thoughts of the upcoming day came rushing in before I even had a chance to feel awake.
Kids, attitude issues, school, teaching, today's obligations, tomorrows obligations, what am I making for dinner, will I have time to stop for gas this morning, will my voice return so I don't sound like an ogre at today's MOPS meeting... Everything came flooding through at once before I even had all the sleep out of my eyes!

This happens to me often. It doesn't seem to matter whether I  wake up early or later, but upon waking my mind goes from groggy to fast forward in the split of second. I have two options then: have my coffee and get going with my day and start on my list of things, or take time to spend one on one time meditating on God's word and seeking His face in the quite.

Seeking Christ is what my soul longs to do! I want to feel His peace and His presence and His calm in my life. But that requires my time, which is so hard to hand over to Him. It's not for a lack of trying though! I sit in the quite, knees bent and eyes closed to come forward to Him with prayer, and if I'm not falling asleep I'm trying to block the running list of things going through my head. Waiting still before the Lord is most definitely a learned attribute! And it amazes me after 15 years of morning prayer time I still struggle with waiting quietly and patiently before the Lord!

But here I am again, sitting with God's word and my journal, head bent in prayer, trying to hear Him and block out the noise coming within. He reminds me that if I seek Him with all my heart, I will find Him. He accounts for our humanness. He knows our minds wander, that we sometimes feel overwhelmed and don't know where to even start having "quite time" with Him. And I'm remained once again that it's ok!
My heart longs for close communion with Him. He knows this, He built me like this. He built us all like this. He didn't design us like this to make us frustrated once we try to commune with Him and fail. He built us like this so we see how human we are and how much we need Him to fill us up, meet us where were at and pick us up where we let go.

In the midst of my jumbled prayer time I let go. I gave my everything to Him, my short little attention span and loss of words, and just asked Him to guide me. And He did! I opened my bible and read this today:

Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name;

make known among the nations

what He has done.

 

Sing to Him, sing praise to Him;

tell of all His wonderful acts.

 

Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek

the Lord rejoice.

 

Look to the Lord and His strength;

seek His face always.

 

1 Chronicles 16: 8 - 11

 

 

All a once my frustrated, jumbled bible time melted away. I gave thanks to the Lord for my blessings, a simple prayer of thanks. I love Him and seek him, and sometimes that's enough. There doesn't always need to be a lengthy prayer time, but just a meaningful one where we seek Him and He guides us towards a verse or puts joy and peace in our hearts.

As I seek Him this morning and let go of expectations and struggle with getting my own self under control, I'm reminded by Him once again that I must seek Him and His strength always, in everything, because He can do more in 2 minutes and a few verses than I could ever do in an hour of dedicated, quite time. Being renewed by Him in the mornings, whether it be in 5 minutes or 50, reminds me that I can lean on Him all day to help me with everything. Somehow all the million things I couldn't keep from running through my brain has stopped and is now calm. God's got this and it's all under control, just like He's got me. And you. Or anyone who can pause just long enough this morning to say,

 

"Good morning Lord! I love you, I need you, I seek you and want to know you. I don't always know where to start or what to do, but that's ok. You do. You know everything and you hold everything. Hold me today Lord. Help me to know you. I love you, I praise you, and I thank you Lord for Your faithfulness. Let my life shine Your light,

Amen~"

 

So... Good morning dear one! :)

 



Morning

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Although they come early and I'm often fumbling around for the first little while, I love mornings. Sometimes warm and inviting, other times bright and energizing, or even cloudy and agnsty; they always signify a new beginning and a chance to start all over again. It doesn't matter what happened yesterday or what's going to happen tomorrow, today has dawned and it's fresh and new and the possibilities always seem so endless! It's like opening up a new leather bound journal and seeing all those blank, crisp white pages and you sit there holding a pen.

What kind words could you say that would burn brightly into someones life today? How can you help someone in your family today? Like really help, the kind of help that makes them sleep well at night when they think of the way you touched their life? You don't have to be amazing to touch someone's life in an amazing way, you just have to love them the way they need loving that day.

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There's adventure out there too. Lot's of adventure.

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You should try something new today. There's always something you want to do or look into, today should be that day for you. You try it. Whatever your "it" thing is. Do it!

I love new days and I'm thankful to worship the God that creates them! Today is your day, go write it!

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