fighting the battle of “not good enough”

I remember feeling like I was losing it.

It was one of my earlier days of being a mama. I was trying to calm my screaming baby. And no matter how I calmed and soothed and rocked, nothing was making a difference.

Finally, right on the edge, I burst out, “Whatever I do, it’s never good enough!”

Immediately I played that back in my head. Never good enough?

That’s not true.

In fact, it’s kind of a ridiculous thing to say, even now. I have two healthy and pretty happy kids. My house isn’t exactly sparkling, but it’s relatively clean. We have food and clean clothes. I’m not perfect, but I’m doing my best. I’m good enough.

In the day to day, though, it is much easier to believe the lie.

Like when I look on social media, and it feels like everyone else has it together (at least in the highlight reel).

Or when I have a task to accomplish, and I think of the million people who would (probably) accomplish it better than me.

Or when I mess up and fall short, which happens quite a bit.

All of it becomes evidence that I’m not good enough.

But what kind of evidence is that? It relies so much on how we feel, or how we compare to someone else, and not what’s really true. 

What we need to be looking for is how God sees us. The God who created the universe, who designed everything, including you, even to the finest detail. The God who loves us so very much that he would give up everything for us, who walks with us in our most challenging times and holds us close when we’re hurting.

The main scripture I’ve been meditating on is this:

Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (NIV)

God’s handiwork! There’s some debate about the definition of the Greek word, poiema. Some have claimed its definition is “masterpiece,” while many believe that it simply means “work”.

But consider the effort and the purpose God puts into us:

His works are wonderful: Psalm 139:14 – “I praise you because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (NIV)

He creates us competent and confident: 2 Corinthians 3:4-5 – “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. “ (NIV)

He chooses us to be holy, blameless, adopted by him, and redeemed: Ephesians 1:3-7a – “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood…” (NIV)

And as it says in Ephesians, he has good works planned for us to do. 

Other people don’t factor into the equation, and we don’t need to be amazing in and of ourselves. God makes us unique and enough. But it’s together with him, and it’s for his purpose. 

All of these things indicate to me that God made us with much care, for a great purpose. We don’t have to fear trying to meet some unknown standard, or compare ourselves to others to see how we rank.

We are God’s handiwork, and we carry out our own purpose for him.

Right now, my calling is to raise my kids, to be a godly wife to my husband, and to love others, especially by pointing them toward Jesus. I’m enough because God says I am, and because he equips me.

How about you?

What scriptures help you feel purposeful and secure?

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.