You ARE Enough!

What did you want to be when you were younger? You know, when people asked that age old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I can’t remember every single answer that I ever gave anyone but I do know that at one point I wanted to be an artist, an Olympic gymnast, a member of the Spice Girls, Miss America, a doctor, Astronaut…just to name a few. I won’t even go into detail about how many times my major in college has changed since I originally started taking classes right out of high school (six…).

When I was little I would spend hours drawing photos in my sketch books. I remember on Christmas my parents got me one of those really ‘fancy’ art kits that had markers, colored pencils and the oil pastels. I was determined to make a go at it and become some famous artist who sold thousands and thousands of prints that everyone wanted to hang in their house.

But I couldn’t draw (at least not good enough to make money doing it).

Then, I though I could be an Olympic gymnast. My mom and I used to watch the competitions when they came on TV. They always look so graceful, so poised and so polished. I knew that they must endure a lot of training to be in the kind of physical shape they were in and I didn’t even really like P.E. at school. So I figured that a career as an Olympic athlete wasn’t in my future. Not to mention that I had taken gymnastics and was not that good at that either…I didn’t even do well with the balance beam.

We won’t go to deep into my ambition of joining the Spice Girls, other than to say that I had already picked a name for myself: Sugar-Anne. You know…sugar AND spice. Yeah, I’m not witty either, so we can mark stand up comedy off of my list as well.

For each and every dream that I had, there was some reason that I could come up with that I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, whatever enough to do it. The world is a pretty harsh place. We are surrounded by other women doing phenomenal things and we think to ourselves, “I could never be like her…” or “I wish I could be like her…”

Believe me…there aren’t enough words to express how many times I have doubted this newfound journey that God has called me on. I’m no Beth Moore or Lysa TerKeurst. I haven’t had the kind of experiences in my childhood that they have. I don’t feel like I have a story to tell. I don’t find that my life has been any different than anyone else’s. Sure, I endured hardship. Who hasn’t?

Your life doesn’t have to be “significant” to everyone else for YOU to matter. 

God even told tells us that we have been FEARFULLY & WONDERFULLY MADE (Psalm 139:14). Just because you don’t think you’re good enough, doesn’t mean that you aren’t. Look at the people that God called to do significant things:  Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Paul, Simon Peter…even Jesus Christ himself was a mere carpenter until His day came to step up into his calling.

“Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossip, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Abraham was old,… and Lazarus was dead. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the CALLED!” (via)

Friends, God doesn’t call the qualified. He doesn’t call the person who has the most beautiful voice to sing his praises. He doesn’t call the most beautiful woman in the world to be Miss America (and for someone who might argue that…let’s talk pageantry…as I competed for 18 years and Toddlers & Tiara’s and Honey Boo-Boo are not what pageants are really like). God calls those who are FAITHFUL to Him. Those who are willing to simply lay down their own dreams and say, “Yes, Lord. Whatever your will, I will follow.”

What has God been calling you to lay down? What calling do you feel that Christ may have for you that you just haven’t answered to yet?

Key Verses for Today: Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 29:11 and Psalm 139:13-16