Wednesday in the Word

It's been a while since I've written one of these posts, and it was one of my New Year's resolutions to be more committed and consistent. I suck, hahahah.

Today is more of a "broad" Wednesday in the Word, as we're focusing on the quote, "You are enough." Whether you believe the quote is with a capital "You" or a lower case "you", this quote should mean something. This was actually inspired by a lettering challenge by my dear friend @bycococandco (check her out!). For the month of February, she wanted to create a lettering challenge that would inspire hope, tolerance, and love (because what better month than Black History Month and Valentine's Day?)

Let's start of this post with a mood booster: YOU ARE ENOUGH. Stop telling yourself that you are not. No, you are not perfect. You are not the most beautiful/handsome being on Earth. You are not the smartest person who invented everything. You aren't the richest, and people don't have the sudden urge to swoon when you walk by. You are far from perfect, but you are enough. You have made someone smile. You are important to someone. You matter. You might not know it, but you have been noticed. You make a difference in this world, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. There is always room for improvement, but improvement does not mean complete alteration of who you are as a person. You are here for a reason, be it you believe the universe has a way of aligning things, or you believe God created everyone for a purpose, or any belief in between: do not ever let anyone make you believe otherwise. You may not be perfect in accordance to societal standards, but you are perfect as yourself.

If you interpreted this quote as referring to God, then let me ask you this: is God enough for you? Most of us Christians will probably very adamantly say, "YES!" and then think about it, and slowly shake our heads in shame, because He isn't enough for us. And let's be honest: most of the time, He isn't enough for me. I start thinking about my car, my future mortgage, that guy who I want to build a future with, the friends I don't want to lose, MY PRIDE, my vanity, extra time to sleep in, and all the stuff that "matters" to me so much more than just praying and investing in my relationship with God. When I say that God is enough, I really mean: "God, just let me get by the day without dying, I love you for what I want, and I'll check in with you when I need some more help." Sad, but true. I am constantly being distracted by ten million other things that seem so much more important than building a relationship with God that God is no longer enough in my life. Can I live a life like Job, where I am stripped of everything, and still I cry out in joy for our Lord? Probably not. I'll try, and probably fail, and ask, "WHY?", forgetting that I was born without all these things I hold dear to. I remember when I first became a Christian, one of the things that my discipleship leader kept reminding me was that God is a great God who helps us when we are in need, BUT we must also love God when he takes away things we think we need. She told me one of her favourite stories is the story about how Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because God told him to. Backstory: Isaac was the son that God had given to Abraham through his wife who was unable to conceive. Can you imagine how much Abraham must have loved Isaac? And yet in his faith, he knew that God will provide, so he prepared to sacrifice Isaac. And because of his unconditional faith, God provided a lamb as replacement for Isaac, which is the basis of our faith today. As God tests our faith, are we willing to break down the idols in our hearts and lay them before the Lord? He will take away what we truly do not need, and He will give us what He has promised, whether that is ancestors as plentiful as the stars, or money to pay for rent.

Remembering that God is enough is something I have to intentionally remind myself: what is truly important? He has already provided the lamb: Jesus Christ, to give me eternal life with Him. Sure, "life sucks" (in this world, anyway), but this is only temporary. This lasts the span of about a century (at most). I only have so much time to share the Gospel with those I care about and those I have yet to meet. I only have so much time to travel around and see the beautiful things that God has created. I only have so much time to do so many things I want to do; why should I let the little things hold me back? Yes, I need food and water to survive. Yes, I need money to get by. However, these were never meant to be things that held us back and away from God. These are just the little things that we let get in the way.

What are some things that you want to learn to let go of? I have a bunch of things I want to let go, so let's be friends and keep each other accountable and pray for each other :)

Update March 5th** This was sitting in my draft since Feb 21st, and I had absolutely no idea that I never published it #failblogger I wouldn't have realized if I weren't going to write something today. Wow, I really fail.