For we are God's designed masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the things he planned for us long ago. - Ephesians 2:10
I was recently blessed by the words of a wonderful speaker who spoke about how women tend to feel like we aren't enough. We try to be everything to everyone and when we fail, we start to beat ourselves up and think terribly of ourselves. I don't know about anyone else but i resonate with that on a spiritual level. I gauge my worth based on how many things I'm doing or how I'm taking care of other people and it just gets to be too much. I get so worn down because of my constant failures because I'm putting too many things on my plate and then when I inevitably crash and burn, I beat myself up for it because I felt as though I should have been able to handle everything.
However, God thinks differently about us. He says we are a hand-crafted masterpiece and we are enough in His eyes. He loves us despite our flaws or shortcomings. So when we feel unloved and worthless, there is always someone who has more love for us than we could ever have for ourselves. And there is someone who find more worth in us that we can't imagine placing on ourselves. The worth that he placed on us was there long before anyone had an opinion. So don't let anyone take away your worth just because of their opinion because it truly does not matter because we are perfect in the eyes of our King.
I was also challenged to fight everyday. Fight my thoughts. Fight my fears. Fight the desire to compare myself to others.Fight the words that are spoken to me and by me. These all seems so easy, but they are truly very difficult. We really are our own worst enemies and I know that I personally critique everything i do and am incredibly hard on myself when something goes wrong. Fighting your fears is not just getting close enough to a spider to kill it (although that truly is a battle); it is fighting the fear of a conversation that we know we need to have. Fighting the fear to invite someone to church. Fighting the fear to step out of our comfort zones and do what we know God has called us to. Daily struggles that go through my head everyday and I'm sure I;m not the only one. Fighting the desire to compare ourselves to others. This is definitely no one I would have thought of on my own and I would not have called it a desire, but it is. I want to compare myself to others. "I want to look like that person or I wish I had this person's personality" are thoughts that go through my head everyday and I crave that comparison in order to make myself look or act the way I think that I should. These are not easy battles, despite how simple they may look on paper. But you know what? They aren't impossible. They aren't unbeatable. We have a God who helps us fight and we have a God who asks us to put our burdens on him so we don't have to carry them anymore.
Don't let the things that happen in your life distract you from who God has created you to be. HE says you are perfect. He says you are loved. He says you are wanted. He says you are a masterpiece. And He says YOU ARE ENOUGH.
