You Are Enough!
A woman sat in my counseling office with tears quietly streaming down her face. All of her life she had been told lies that ended with one word—enough. “You’re not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough.”
Her father was impossible to please. Her husband followed suit. As a result she worked harder and harder, burying her emotions deeper within, and hoping that one day she could earn acceptance.
As we prayed together and she renounced some of the lies she had believed about herself, I sensed the Lord whispering to my heart one simple sentence over and over. Tell her she is enough.
After we said “amen” I took a deep breath, looked at her, and quietly said, “You are enough. All of your life people have made you feel as if you are not. But that’s a lie. I think God wants you to know that you are enough, just as you are.”
When I spoke those words it was as if a dam broke within her. Rather than quietly slipping down her face, the tears began to pour forth from a place she had kept locked for years. When she finally looked up, she wore a bright smile and it seemed as if a load had been lifted from her shoulders.
As I drove home that night, I wondered at God’s grace. I began to think, “If He wanted to say that to her, then perhaps He wants to say it to me as well.” Like most women, I relentlessly push myself to be and do more. Deep inside, I also live with the lie that says you are not enough.
As I pondered and prayed, the Lord began to reveal more about this truth. Being “enough” in God’s kingdom does not mean having status, wealth, or stunning beauty. It’s an entirely different perspective from what the world sees as enough.
In God’s eyes, we are enough because He is enough. When we give our lives to Christ, we become new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). We also gain access to all He has to offer and have “everything we need for life and godliness.”
Like the woman in my office, we all feel as if we have to strive for love and acceptance at times. Yet God invites us to come to Him and believe no matter what the world may try to tell us, no matter which lies have wounded our hearts, no matter how inadequate we may feel at times, we are enough.
We tell ourselves, “It’s all too much.”
Then there’s an answer, deep within,
calling first for all who are weary to come
and then reminding us gently…
I AM.
Because in the middle of our circumstances...
the ticking of the clock,
the spinning of the wheels,
there is one deepest fear.
It’s that we won’t be enough;
we’ll falter under the weight of it all.
And if we do, then we won’t be loved.
Yes? You’ve heard that too?
Friend, it isn’t true.
Hear words of grace instead...
You are enough in Him
because He is enough in you.
-God's Heart for You: Embracing Your True Worth as a Woman
* Weekly Link Up: For one more week, on Tuesday we'll be talking about a different answer to "In God's Heart I Am...." This week's word is Enough.
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Next week our word is Called. *
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Holley Gerth
Reader Comments (96)
Beautiful beautiful post.
I have a large box of journals. This morning, I was reading through one I wrote on a trip of a lifetime. I sit here now Holley, with tears streaming down my face, realizing that what I wrote about is how I am never enough. if only...why didn't i...
All around me is my current project - sorting through bookcases and boxes of books. And I realize most of them tell me how to do something, better. And I've been looking at them sadly because I didn't learn, didn't do better at prayer, at ministry, at home-keeping...
I want to believe...
Thank you for this powerful reminder that we are "enough" in Christ. Ever since I can remember I was told that "Good enough is never good enough." I have spent most of my almost sixty years trying to be good enough. It about drove me to suicide and insanity. There are so many of us that need a deep healing of our soul. I am enough through Christ and so are all my sisters. Oh the love of God!!!! How wonderful He is.
Thank you so much for sharing this very powerful message; I really feel blessed by it because I can truly relate to it. May God continue to bless and prosper you in every way in Jesus' name, amen.
I have always tried to be good enough trying to please everyone else; however, I have found as I have gotten older I was heading in the wrong direction. Don't get me wrong as a child yes I needed to be pleasing to my parents to an extent but you always have that trying to be as good as that older brother or sister following in their foot steps. When you go to school there is always peer pressure and as an adult their still is. But I figured out all I have to be is enough for God yes I have bumbled so to speak but no matter how big of a mess I make out of anything....which I have.....I am still good enough for God he loves me through all of my phenomenal times and my bumbles so to speak. What a great feeling to know we all have such a great Father..............
Because I am present in this time for Him, I am all that I need to be. He gives me all I need to be what He wants me to be. I am enough in God's eyes and in His plans if I follow Him. Enough is all I need to be.
Thank you for today's post. It must be such a good feeling to breakthrough with someone, as you did with your client.
Ever notice in the Bible how God uses those that society would consider not good enough? People in Jesus' day did not consider him good enough to be the promised Messiah. We are good enough by the grace of God.
Holley - you have NO IDEA how timely your post was today! It has spoken to my heart specifically, and I thank you for listening to God's timing and leading in your writing. God bless you today!
This concept of "enough" came up this spring for me as I read Dr.Brene Brown's book, 'The Gifts of Imperfection'. I realized I believed the lie that I am not enough. I was never told this but I was never told that I was enough. I am so thankful you made this post. Please know you have a blessing to me for about 6mths now. My sister re-posted one of your posts and I immediately signed up for your posts. ~Thank you, Karla:)
Holley,
As I read your post, I started remembering being told I was fat and ugly by someone who was supposed to care about me: my brother. I was abused and ridiculed throughout most of my early teenage years. I never felt good enough for a long time. When my mom left, I felt I wasn't good enough to be loved by her- or anyone else. Then I met my husband and he treated me differently than anyone else ever had and told me I was beautiful and worth loving. He introduced me to Jesus. He told me that I was worthy in God's eyes. I asked Jesus into my heart. My life has never been the same since. I know that in Him, I am enough.
He is more than enough for me.
God Bless you for being a blessing to me,
Kathy