To the woman who feels she’s not enough:
You come across confident. Your words, your actions, the way you present yourself, all seem to be carried with a quintessential poise. I know I’m just a girl you think may not know much, but when I look at you — when I really peer in and try to understand who you are — I have this feeling that your confidence is a facade. That your layers are merely that: just layers to hide an engulfing fear of inadequacy. I know this diversion well.
I often use artificial confidence to hide how I feel.
I don’t want you to drown in a sea of decaying self-worth. You have so much to offer this world, so much to give. You’re infinitely valuable. I hope you stretch out your fingers and see the innumerable gifts you could provide.
There are certain nights when I feel most un-enough, and those are the nights I ask Jesus to hold me. Sometimes I feel His arms wrap around mine, and I fall asleep with this feeling of safety. Tonight, I’m asking Him to hold you. Tonight, I’m asking Him to wrap Himself around you so tight that the inadequacy falls away. That you wake up clean and whole and free.
Please don’t rip your worth away.
I have so many scars from all the times I’ve teared open my skin and wrenched out my worth. Every time I convince myself I’m not enough, I rip away the worth Jesus has instilled inside of me. Jesus never ceases to sew me back up, adding value and worth and adequacy.
With Him, I am enough. With Him, I am complete again.
But like many human beings, I tend to be fickle. So I continue to rip my worth away. His love is patient. Each time He stitches me back up and I am made whole.
Perhaps you feel like there are mountains of expectations sitting on your shoulders. It feels like the world may stop its spinning if you don’t keep up. But you are enough as you are. You don’t have to believe me, a twenty-one-year-old girl who knows less than a handful of things. You can choose to believe Jesus instead.
Not for one moment do I believe that Jesus wants us to think we’re inadequate, or not enough.
But I also don’t think He wants us to believe the entirety of the world leans precariously on our shoulders. We can rest and shake off our burdens and curl up at the feet of a God who is madly and passionately in love with us. A God who’s got this — all of this, no matter what your “this” might be. No more masks or fake confidence or pressure-filled days. Instead may we be vulnerable and free.
Because of Jesus, you are enough and worthy and invaluable.
To the woman who feels she’s not enough: I’ll keep on praying until you begin to believe you are.
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