We spend our whole lives thinking we are not enough. In the quiet moments, in the dark moments, our soul whispers that we do not measure up. We don’t measure up to where we thought we would be in life. We don’t measure up to where we assume our family and friends think we should be in life. Our jobs don’t measure up to the salary we need. I. Am not. Enough.

So, we attempt to attain the elusive enough through whatever accomplishments we think will make us feel satisfied. We change our major, we look for a spouse, we get pets, we try to have children, we apply for different jobs, we look for promotions.

If we do eventually reach what we thought would make us enough, we realize once we get there, that it isn’t. I finally got the job I applied to for an entire year at a Christian ministry I adored, and it wasn’t enough. Then I got the promotion and the shift time that I wanted, and it wasn’t enough. I finished my degree that I thought would solve all my problems, and it wasn’t enough. I got the house I wanted in the perfect part of town I wanted, and it still wasn’t enough. I thought all those things and accomplishments would make me feel like I had reached enough and that it would make me successful and happy. But I still wasn’t happy. And I still didn’t feel like I was enough.

And all the while we are reaching for the things that we think will make us feel enough, we start comparing ourselves to others. We find ourselves looking at others’ lives and saying to ourselves, ‘if only I were there.’ If only I had a house like them, I would be enough. If only my family looked like theirs, I would be enough. If only I had gotten the right degree, and could have a job I loved like they do, then I would feel like I was enough. We tear ourselves apart by comparing ourselves to others, increasing our search for enough to a near frantic level while falling into a deeper pit of hopelessness than before.

Or, the comparing can go in a different direction. We attempt to convince ourselves that we are enough by putting others down. At least I’m not as bad as them. At least my car is nicer than theirs. At least I don’t live in a dump like that. At least I don’t have that job. We try to build ourselves up in our minds by tearing others down. We try to reach enough through a false sense of being “better” than someone else.

Can I tell you a secret I learned (and truthfully, am still learning)? You were not created to be enough on your own. You will never be enough through what you attempt to attain in your own strength. Humanity has struggled with this from the dawn of creation. That’s what Adam and Eve fell prey to in the garden. They didn’t feel like they were enough. They didn’t feel like they had enough. So they took the fruit, and ate it. And when they got what they thought would make them feel like enough? Their desire for enough was not satisfied.

We will never be enough through what we attempt to attain in our own strength. We can only ever be enough through the power of Jesus Christ, by allowing Him to work in our lives. He alone can be our enough. When we rely on Him, and surrender to Him the things that we thought would make us enough, He fulfills our enough. (More on what that looks like in real life later – see enough.part2.)

First, Jesus makes us righteous (1 Corinthians 1:30, Romans 3:22) which is honestly the only enough we ever need (2 Corinthians 12:9). BUT, through his grace, He also gives back what we gave Him (what we thought would be our enough), and He gives it back more abundantly than what we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21, 2 Corinthians 9:7-8)!

Foundationally, in a way that only Jesus Christ can do in your life, He fills you, He grows you, He makes you more than enough.

In Him – just a girl pursuing her reflection in the mirror