Never Enough

As daybreak began to appear in the wee hours of the morning, I peered with my foggy eyes and heard the sweet sounds outside my window. The song birds broke out into song as they welcomed a new day with joy and gladness that seemed to inspire my soul to rise and shine! “It’s a new day!” As cheerful as they caroled, I realized there was a part of me that seemed to have trouble stirring myself out of a deep slumbering sleep.  It was my own inner joy and happiness that was absent. Nothing like theirs…that was full and vibrant.  As if mine were lost and missing. ​

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It’s the misplaced feeling of knowing that a new day is about to begin and that Gods mercies would be new for me on this fresh day, that I held fast to the broken truth and reality that seemed to sing yet another tune, that said that “that day” was a far and distant land.
Most of our lives we work to please our families, our spouses, our bosses and even our churches. We desperately give our all, but our all is just never quite good enough.
Maybe your day begins something like this…“Mom, my project is due tomorrow with a snack for each person in the classroom!”, “Honey, I am going to need my shirt cleaned and ironed before tomorrow big meeting!” “Sweetie, we will need to you to house sit and feed and water the dogs, while we are away the next 10 days on a cruise!” “Could you please bring a dish or two for the funeral meal by weeks end?”  “Would you be able to cover my children’s church class this Sunday as my husband is sweeping me away for an impromptu love fest?”        UGH!  Giant UGH!!!!!!!!!!   

​All are requests that seem harmless and even doable most of the time.  But when life is heavy and already over loaded, one more appeal can seem like it will be the tipping point that could take you to the point of no return.

When is enough, truly enough?  
When do you wave the white flag and say, I am going under here?

Not only are you feeling the weight of all the daunting tasks, but you feel as though you cannot let anyone down or disappoint those who are looking to you. There is another feeling that lurks around the your doorstep of your mind, and that is the threat of insecurity and anxiety with every swipe of your thumb. You know that post on Instagram that has you analyzing each pixel to see if she really looks that good, or has she used the latest and greatest filter to get that stellar look. Or perhaps, you have caught the Facebook feed that has left you envious of your colleague’s great life that continues to skyrocket to an all-time high, while yours seems to be at a plummeting low. Whether it is a dozen and one things to do with your already encumbered schedule, or your not so great life that feels like you are drowning in a pool of helpless, God doesn’t want us ever feeling like we are never not enough.

​The world may scream “step up”, “climb up” and “dare to find your destiny”,
while God says something totally different.

​Yes, God does want to give you an amazing life, but he doesn’t want you to die trying to obtain it. Your life was predestined long before time ever began.  So whether you feel as though you don’t measure up or tally up, God says you do to Him. Your worth was set before the beginning of time. Unfortunately, we often believe the lies of the enemy all too often and then fall hook line and sinker for his schemes that leave us helpless and hopeless.  
But remember this… if for some reason you are in some way engaged in conversation with this smuck,  hear this and please LEARN this once and for all… he is a big fat liar. Lies, lies, lies!!! All lies!   He cannot tell the truth for even a minute. He is the father of lies. 

If this was our child or spouse, we would never tolerate it.  If this was our pastor or closest friend, we would probably disown them. But for some reason, we will listen to him all day long. He will whisper in your ear at the break of day and will baulk at you until you close your eyes for the night. Repeating over and over and over, “you are never enough.”
It doesn’t matter if you work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, have the greatest fitness workout, eat the most organic foods you can find, cloth and train your children up in the way they should go, love your husband every day… all day, and serve on every charity you can possibly find, the enemy will tell you, you are still not enough! 

Well ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

​At some point in all of our lives we have to make one of two decisions. And stick to it! 
 1) Either, we buy into the lie and stay miserable, beaten down and overwhelmed until it takes us over.  Or 2) you can call his bluff, put him in his place and tell him who he is and who and whose you are! It really is that simple!

I engaged in battle for years with myself that I too was never enough.  I added up all of my inadequacies and accepted that as my grand total or sum for my life.  All of my mistakes, all of my misfortune and all that came to be was my worth and value. But thank God He says something differently! It didn’t matter how hard I tried, how strenuously I worked or how many days I pressed through, enough was just never enough!  I was spent. Depleted and honestly, completely wrecked inside and out. I had bought into the lie and it left me completely bankrupt.  Ruined from good health, a meaningful mindset, and elevated emotions.  Meaning, emotions that kept me in good standing.  Not hot on a wire or deep in a pit of despair.  All because I believed in the lies of the biggest loser of all. Satan.  The great schemer.  The adversary, the wicked one, the roaring lion, the devil and the accuser of all of mankind.

​Look at those names again. Reread them slowly. Think about what those words mean and what they mean to you and me. Why in the world would we listen to him for even a moment, let alone a life time?  Call me stupid, but I did for way too long.  And perhaps you feel the same.  You too even know the bible verses to counter this fool like me. But some way somehow, he wins out more than we would ever like to ever admit.

How can you and I get off of this never-ending treadmill of insufficiency?  How can we learn to run our race with grace and mercy?  With excellence without treachery!  And live the life that God has set before us, not what the enemy lays in wait for us?

I believe we really can. But if we continue to believe the lie that we are “never enough” then we chose to yoke up with the one who has come to kill steal and destroy. What?!  Yup that’s right! We have linked to the one who is out to kill our soul.

​His only goal in life is to kill steal and destroy your life. John 10:10 even says so!
No one in their right mind would ever choose to do such a thing, but day after day, month after month, you and I scroll through the lives of others, measuring, evaluating, and estimating our worth by a sick standard of the world. This mindset leaves us feeling empty, hollow and often very alone.  Isolation is one of the greatest tools to send someone down into a slow fade.  It’s not an overnight drop off.  But it’s a sure and sudden slippery slope that often takes us straight to our demise.  And then the day comes when you finally do.  Honestly, it’s more like a slow growing cancer that goes undetected until it’s too late.  The tests are run, the verdict is in.  Your years have now been dictated into days!

​Maybe you feel as though you too are getting closer and closer to the edge.  And in some way, it feels as though this may be your only hope. Jump and throw everything to the wind.  To finally check out and leave all the consequences to those behind, simply because you are not enough!  Friend, this is NOT Gods will for your life.  He does not want any one of us walking around aimlessly in despair feeling as though you are not enough.

I believe when your name was created in time, God wrote down your life plan and saw all that you could be. I also believe that He makes no mistakes and wastes nothing! I can almost guess what the next question would be…then why in the world would He give me this kind of plan for my life? I don’t have the answer for that.  But I do know we have a God who loves us beyond measure.  He personally laid himself down on a cross because we were enough. 

Think of that for just a moment…
God came down as man, so He could know exactly what it would feel like to be like to be not enough. He walked among broken men, so that He too could be broken.
But in the end, he chose to place Himself on the cross, stretch out His arms and say,
“You are enough!” 

As simple as they may sound, Jesus said and continues to say, you are more than enough to Me. And just in case you could offer a good argument like I often do, Paul clearly writes in the New Testament that He is always enough. 
​ Because He says, when you are weak, He is strong.
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1 Corinthians 12:10. Says, the less you have, the more depended you are on Him.

This is great news for you and I friend.  Because we are not enough, we may never be in our own eyes.  But Jesus says He is more than enough.  
And this makes you and I more than ENOUGH!

Which leads me to this… If God before you, then who could be against you?!
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It’s up to us to stop listening and living the lies of the enemy and start believing the One that only matters.  And in case no one has told you lately!  You are more than ENOUGH!

~Shannon