I Am Enough

I have spent most of my life feeling either like I am too much for people to deal with...to dramatic, to emotional, too perfect, too good, to excited, to complex, to active, to elaborate, dream to big, have to expensive of a taste

OR

 

feeling like I'm not enough....not strong enough, not big enough, not capable enough, not good enough, not acceptable enough, not perfect enough

 

 

Either way, I have felt displeasing to those around me.

 

 

And that is why I am so in love with my Jesus.  Because I am finding, that in Him, I am lacking nothing.  I am not too much to handle and I am not to little to be worth something.  In Him, I am complete.

 

He can handle me.  He can handle me beating Him on the chest, crying, screaming at Him that life is not fair, asking Him why, and demanding answers.  He can handle my huge dreams and hopes, my drama, my complexity, my emotions, and my racing mind.

 

He can also handle me in my very smallness, my weakness, every time I stumble, and not just stumble, but fall over the SAME stone over and over and over again.  He can handle my inabilities, my imperfections.

 

His response to me is always the same.  Open arms and gentle love.  Sometimes, He tells me what I need to hear even when He knows it will prick my soul, but He never belittles me.  He never throws His hands up in defeat and says, "I don't know what to do with you anymore.  You are just too much!"  He strengthens me in my weakness, helps me up when I fall, dusts my pants off, kisses me on the forehead, and says, "try again.  You haven't failed.  Just try again."

 

He loves me perfectly and in Him I am complete.

 

And because I am complete in Him, I can learn to stand secure in who I am in Him.

 

I want to encourage you today....if you feel like you are too much or not enough or maybe both....there is one in whom you can find complete wholeness, in whom, no matter what, you are enough.  Not because of anything you have done or not done, but simply because of what He has done for you and for me.

 

With arms opened wide and spread out

With a bruised brow and a broken body

He became the enough in all of our imperfections and inadequacies

 

That is why, in Him and only Him, you and I can be enough, can be complete, because through Him; He has made us complete and whole and enough.

 

You are enough.  You are acceptable and you are adequate.



 

 





I Am Thankful Give Away

So, I just now noticed that since starting this blog, I have had 3,817 page views.  That is kind of cool.  :)  I do not normally do give aways and things, because that is not the focus of this blog, nor do I desire to give things away in order to twist the arms of people just to get them to like my page so it looks like I have an awesome and popular blog LOL!  However, today I thought, in light of the season and my last post, it might be fun to offer a give away, just for fun and to offer encouragement to others  who you are friends with on Facebook by sharing your favorite blog post and something you are thankful for in your current season.  I am not good at these things, nor do I even know how to do them properly, so we will see how this goes!  :D

                                                                             Give Away Details:

When my blog reaches 4,000 page views, I will do a random drawing for a pair of fabulous, hand knit, color of your choice, cable knit fingerless gloves for the winner to enjoy wearing during this winter season or next winter season depending on how fast I can get them knit lol!  You know, a little bit of beauty to give thanks for in the midst of this season.  How do you get your name into the drawing?  Just take a moment to check out my blog (that helps add to the page views), Share the blog post on your page that has brought you the most encouragement, and comment under this current posting with your name or by sharing one thing you are thankful for in this winter season and/or in the life season you are currently in.  :)

Random Thoughts on a Snowy Morning

As I was driving my children to school this morning, earlier than normal these days because of snowy and ice covered roads, I couldn't help but smile at the beauty I saw around me.  Gentle snow fell as we made our way through white powdered covered roads.  My favorite, cause it makes me imagine what it must have been like to live 200 years ago, traveling in an open sleigh to grandmothers house. :)  I can't help myself....I know it is cold and blustery, inconvenient, hand and lip chapping, but still, I just can't get over the beauty of it all.  And that is when the thought ran across my mind, "there is beauty in every season."  And it dawned on me, how that statement, applies even to our personal and spiritual lives.

We all go through seasons.  In my life, the season I am currently in is called "Taxi Driver Mom", at least that is the way I feel a lot of days.  Running three children back and forth to school, to friends houses, to youth group, to school events, to church events....to all kinds of events.  It is easy to get overwhelmed and look at how tired it makes me and how much I often want to run away to a deserted island to be left alone under a cabana with maybe a tall glass of ice tea, a good book, and my knitting...to not be needed for a moment or two or three.  And if that is all I focus on, my need to get away, I miss the beauty that is a part of this "Taxi Driver Mom" season.  I miss out on focusing on the joy of having healthy, involved, and inspired children, warm hugs, love notes left on the dinning room table, snuggles, private conversations with a 14 year old opening herself up to me, prayers in the van on the way to school, listening to Lecrea and Andy Mineo rap their way into my heart as I drive those dear children all over Timbuktu , and the list could go on and on......there is beauty in this season.

Just like outside.  There is beauty in the cold of winter.  In the snow that gently falls, drifting like whipped cream covering a banana cream pie and as it coats the branches of the pine trees like powdered sugar.  There is beauty in each intricate snow flake, none of which are ever exactly alike.  Just that, draws of breath of admiration and awe out of me.

....And it reminds me to apply  this simple thought to my life

...."There is beauty in every season"

....What will I choose to focus on?  The cold or the beauty of the snow?  The days of endless running and being needed or the joy of watching little people spread their wings and learn to fly?

What will be my focus?

It is the choice of my focus that makes or breaks the outcome of my moment, my season, my day, my year, my life.  I want to learn even better to focus on the beauty of every season, no matter what that might be.  I know the danger of a statement like this.....cause usually God speaks to my heart in order to prepare me for what is next....hmmmm....like maybe a season coming that I am not so thrilled about or maybe a season of more waiting....that is part of my season right now too.  That season has been going on for a while. 

It reminds me a bit of another thought that came to me the other day, that it is thankfulness that awakens the soul and I think that goes well with these random thoughts today.  I think in order to find the beauty I must find the thankful in the midst of the season and then I must GIVE thanks.  And in the giving of thanks, I will have my eyes opened up to the beauty of any and every season.

How about you?  What season are you in right now?  Maybe you are in a difficult season right now.  Maybe it feels a little cold, blustery, and hand and lip chapping at the moment.  I want to encourage you along with myself, to change your focus.  Find the thankful even in the cold and give thanks for it.  Focus on the beauty of that thankful moment and I think I can almost guarantee you....that in the moment you and I decide to give thanks, our eyes will be opened up to the beauty of the season we are in. 

Blessings!