You do enough. You have enough. You are enough.

A phrase I stumbled upon  the other day.

It was just another night of me mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed, seeing all of these pictures of beautifully decorated homes, super cute baby stuff, trendy jewelry for sale, crafters with their amazing handmade crafts that have been so successful online, and the lives authors and speakers I love, unfolding right in front of me. I follow so many people on there and I don’t even know half of them, well I think I know them… because I see all their pictures… so Jen Hatmaker and I are basically friends, right?!? Well as a scrolled through all of these things I came across a picture of a mug that had “You do enough. You have enough. You are enough.” printed on it.  It was of course styled all cute in the picture and my immediate thought after reading it really quickly was, “Oh, I SO NEED that!” Then I stopped myself, read it again, and thought about it for a second.  If I’m truly understanding the message on this mug, then I really don’t NEED this mug because I HAVE enough.  This phrase really hit home for me because I struggle with all three of these areas pretty regularly.

You do enough.  “No, I don’t,” says the chatterbox in my head.  I hardly do anything.  I don’t go to work. I don’t make us enough money. I don’t have a house that’s clean and decorated like all of the people in Instagram world. I don’t pack Josh’s lunch everyday or make gourmet dinners. I don’t teach my one year old enough. (Why can’t he read yet?? I’m slacking!) I digress. Josh and I actually just had a conversation about this last night and I ended up all frustrated because he doesn’t get why I think I have to do 4378957489 things to be content.  I don’t know either and to try to figure out what’s going on in my head is not a punishment I would wish upon anyone.  SO. MANY. THOUGHTS. I want to be the best mom I can be and as Josh continues to tell me, that’s the most important job I have and, really right now, the only job that matters.  BUT in my mind, I have to be the best It Works! distributor in the tri-state area (immediately), make enough wood signs to set up shop at a bunch of craft shows, babysit, substitute teach, annnnnddd all while doing those things, I’d like to save all of the orphaned children and rescue women and children who are being exploited and sold into trafficking.  There’s enough time for all of that right?? Insert my heart attack here.  Which, might I add, Josh thinks I’m going to have by the time I’m 35. But when I examine all of these things and the reasoning behind my ambitiousness, there are a few factors that continue to surface.  And that takes me to the next phrase.

You have enough.  Wait I do?  I don’t have a house that I own.  I don’t have a bigger car. I don’t have any clothes that I like. (…says every girl on the planet) I don’t have cable.  I don’t have everything from Target that I think I need to have.  AND I don’t have a king size bed. WHYYYYYYY???? It seems so necessary to have enough space when I sleep to be in any position I want to be in.  It seems fair that I should be able to live without the fear of accidentally touching my husband with my right pinky finger while I get comfortable because he can’t handle being touched while trying to fall asleep. We even have our own blankets people. I mean, c’monnn! So anyways, a lot of the “I don’t have enough” thoughts lead to some of the “I don’t do enough” thoughts, because clearly I need to do more, to have more, in some instances.  While the reel of cool, pretty things is playing on one side of my mind, I’m also thinking of all of the millions and millions of people that would do anything for even just the food that I wipe from Rowan’s highchair, into the trashcan, that he doesn’t finish.  Breaks my heart.  I often pray for God to take away my desire of wanting stuff.  I hate that I spend so much time thinking about what I want.  These sinful fleshly desires take over so quickly. I get so distracted from what’s really important…loving well.

You are enough.  This one has always been a doozy for me.  I go back and forth and back and forth between, “See yourself the way God sees you, Dana!” and “You’re not a good enough wife, mother, daughter, friend, sister…” It’s Satan.  He’s so sneaky and so smart.  He know my weaknesses.   It’s a daily battle, but I promised myself a few years ago that I would work hard to stop believing the lies.  And boy has it been a journey! If you read my previous post on me being a perfectionist, you’ll understand a little, but every time I wasn’t “perfect” in my own eyes, I wasn’t enough.  Talk about being tied down by chains. But Praise the Lord! There is freedom that comes in Christ!  Every day I start over and every day God pours his grace over me and says, “You are enough, because I made you.” Insecurities and self-doubt so easily creep in and take over.  As women, we are SO unbelievably hard on ourselves.  But WHY?? Why do we compare ourselves to others ALL. DAY. LONG. and turn those lies into what we think are truths. It’s an epidemic in every aspect of our lives.

Moral of the story(ies) is this.  Where sin abounds, grace abounds even more (Romans 5:20) and God loves me enough to meet me when my heart is at its sickest. (Jeremiah 17:9).  God knows our heart, despite the negative thoughts that scroll through our heads while we’re scrolling through our feeds. He will provide for our needs if we only trust in Him.  When we seek Him for answers about being enough, we will find Him and He will set us free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! (2 Corinthians 3:17) Also, it’s ok to work hard, challenge yourself, and strive for more, as long as it doesn’t become an obsession over having more things and more money.  You (I) cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24) And you (I) cannot do everything. (preaching to myself…) There’s very fine line there and it can be very hard to find a healthy balance, as I’m sure most of you know.  Often times I feel stuck and like I can’t make a difference in the lives of other without money.  My first instinct is to want to give and buy and share and when I don’t think I have enough money to make a difference, I end up doing nothing.  God does not call us to only give others/causes money.  He calls us to love like He does.  He calls us to surrender our lives to Him, our desires, our fears, our doubts, our worries.  Surrender all. yikes. HARD STUFF. But there’s grace. We need God’s grace in order to live in the present and we need to accept His provision in our lives.  We must stop the anxious strivings for the “enoughs” and remember that His amazing grace is sufficient for us. (2 Corinthians 12:9) Just take it one day at a time.

I’m going to stop there and end with some scripture because I’m feel like I’m starting to not make much sense. After 4:00 PM my brain starts turning to mush…

xoxo,

Dana

Matthew 6:21 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who are weary and heavy hearted and I will give you rest.

Psalm 37:3-4 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the Lord and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Lamentations 3:22-24 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.