You are enough.

Read it, and then read it again.

You are enough.

Let it really sink in.

We read these three words, but we often forget the depth of the meaning behind them. We often push the meaning to the side and just continue to live our daily lives, thinking whatever we want about ourselves. We compare ourselves to things and people we were not created to be like. We change who we are in order to gain the approval of people who don’t really matter. We strive towards a perfection that does not exist apart from the cross. We hold ourselves up to standards that Jesus has already met for us. We forget who we are and what has been done for us. But we so easily remember the stinging feeling of words spoken apart from truth and kindness. We let things that should be taken lightly hit us like a ton of bricks. We so easily remember the things that hurt us, rather than the things that build us up. We let it have a say in the way we live, in the way we view, in the way we feel, in the way we speak, in the way we act, and in the way we love ourselves and love our Savior. And that’s exactly what the enemy wants us to do.

It’s time to stop.

It’s time to start living life in light of eternity.

It’s time to start lavishing ourselves in unending grace.

It’s time to start living in the fullness of joy.

It’s time to start walking in freedom.

It’s time to start celebrating what was done for us on the cross.

It’s time to start resting in the fact that we are carried.

It’s time to start seeing ourselves as we really are: Beloved, purposeful, strong, chosen, beautiful, wonderful, treasured, delighted in, and more than enough.

The lie that we are ‘not enough’ trips us up and causes us to fall into worlds of struggle. As long as we believe we're not enough, we also believe we have to make up for it. So instead of running to Jesus, we flee to self-improvement, ideas of trying harder and exhausting ourselves. We forget that there is a better way. Receiving. Letting God fill up our "not enough" with his infinite love, grace, and strength until we're overflowing,

Jesus has already freed you from the trap of comparison that you keep yourself locked in day after day. When He died for you on the cross, He met every single standard that you would ever need to meet, on your behalf. He bridged that gap that you could never meet, He filled it with grace.

God looks at you, striving towards perfection, gaining the world’s approval, changing yourself to fit this archetype of perfection, listening to the lies, forgetting who you are, letting the enemy root deep down inside our hearts. And in the middle of it all, in the midst of this great struggle, we look up to Him, begging for acceptance and approval, and we ask; “God, is this enough? Am I enough?” I can imagine Him looking down at us with a soft, compassionate laugh, the way a wise parent does with a child who is certain he/she has it all figured out. He just replies a simple “No.” We don’t get it. In the seconds to come, we wonder how we can be better, how we can do more, how we can meet the impossible expectations that have been set before us. He pauses. Tangled up in our mess but still wrapped tightly in grace, He looks lovingly at us and replies: "You are not enough... in me you are so much more."

Look beneath yourself. Under all the layers and facades that you project to the world. And know deep within- although you may not be enough for this world, you are more than enough to Jesus. You always have been and always will be and that’s all that truly matters in the sense of this precious and wonderful life you live, and even more so, in the sense of your beautiful eternity that is to come.