You Are Enough

The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. – Zephaniah 3:17

When my husband dropped the mail on the kitchen counter in front of me yesterday, I saw that the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue had once again arrived uninvited.  “You won’t believe this,” he said, (with a little too much enthusiasm, I thought), “Christie Brinkley is back for the first time since I was in middle school, and she’s posing with her daughters.”  

With that, I couldn’t just dump the magazine into the recycle bin like I’d always done.  I had to look.  Christie Brinkley, my husband’s pre-teen crush (though he won’t admit it), is now 63 years old.  I was expecting to see her fully dressed as a stately matron next to her twenty-something daughters.  I wasn’t even close.  There she was, on page thirteen, proudly sporting a tiny black bikini looking like she was in her thirties.

Even in high school, I wasn’t thin enough to strut around in an “itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini” at the beach.  Even in college, while teaching daily aerobics classes, you would never catch me in a tummy-exposing tank top or a sleeveless dress.  I wasn’t tall enough to pull off long dresses, or skinny enough to show much skin.

Why do we constantly compare ourselves to others, repeating comments in our head like: I’m not thin enough, smart enough, rich enough, pretty enough, or good enough?

God must look upon our crazy comparisons, shake His head, turn to Jesus and say something like, “Have they forgotten how precious they are to me… again?”  

He’s right, we get stuck in unhealthy, destructive patterns because we forget who we are to our Creator.  He made us in His image.  He saved us from our sins.  He takes great delight in watching us become more like His son.  He loves us with an everlasting love, and He rejoices over us with singing.

Isn’t that enough?  

When we find our true identity in God’s truths instead of our looks, bank accounts, or number of Facebook friends, we are set free from the destructive trap of constantly comparing ourselves with others.

It’s a purposeful process that requires daily decisions.  Will you thank God today for how He made you?  Will you see yourself as beautiful and enough in God’s sight?  Will you focus on His unending love?  When you do, His presence moves closer to you. Living close to God increases our joy.

After writing this, and reminding myself of what I needed to know, I rejoiced. Dancing into the kitchen, I slam dunked that Sports Illustrated straight to the bottom of the recycling bin, burying it deep enough to never be seen again, and smiling because I am enough. God says so.  I am enough.  And so are you!

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a Part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement