I don’t know if it’s just me, but the message of “enoughness” seems to be everywhere these days. It’s definitely a refreshing stance considering most media and marketing campaigns have led us to believe otherwise for years, but somehow, this message still feels like a cotton candy anchor. It’s designed to ground us, but it doesn’t have much weight in our sense of security.
When I say I’m enough I get a jolt of “positivity” and feel-good juice that motivates me temporarily. By temporarily I mean for like five minutes. However, when I think of God saying, “YOU’RE ENOUGH,” somehow my root of rejection, brokenness, inadequacy, failure and fear of doing just about anything, moves to the backburner of my often-fluctuating perceived identity. And then I remember words like…
“You did not choose me, but I chose you…” John 15:16
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” Jeremiah 1:5
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13
Now I know that these words say more about who God is than who I am, but He went as far as to us how much we mean to Him… (or in my personal words, how obsessed He is with us.)
I know I’ve felt validated by people before. Whether it was due to a compliment about a material expression such as what I’m wearing or a reflection of my character… and it felt GOOD. But, that hopscotch validation goes two ways; When I’ve been rejected or the validation was removed, it wounded my spirit. (And… it terrorized my ego too.
My dad was never around to confirm my importance and his absence communicated that to me daily, hence my skepticism and inability to believe God would see me otherwise. That was until I realized that I was projecting a painful and limited human love to an unconditional boundless God.
I don’t know what you might be walking through right now, but if it’s anything that’s synonymous with feeling:
-Inadequate, unqualified or fearful of creating something
-Rejected, abandoned or heartbroken by someone
-At a loss of identity (i.e. life role/title/position)
Although very real and perhaps reasonable, they’re not the 360 degree view of who you are and what your life is about.
A simple sprinkle of feel good words such as “I am enough,” to get you through it are not enough. They’re good lip service but not effective soul service. That has to come from a deeper, steadfast, trustworthy place.
When we see the value that we have to God, not because of what we can do, (because lets be honest, God doesn’t need anything from us) but because of how loved, desired and intentionally designed we are, we can truly operate from a different, more secure place. Words do have power, but only when they are the fruit of a deeply rooted tree. So what’s the root of your words, thought life and emotional temperature?
-Hugette