Daily Delight

I am not enough. Despite what the world is saying to me, despite the endless Instagram posts telling me that I am, despite the Pinterest quotes declaring it over me - I am not enough.At first, I felt empowered by this saying. I'd use it as fuel to get work done, to reply paragraphs to friends, to be as much as I could be for everyone. Whenever the going got tough, I dug deeper into this "I am enough" mantra. Then all of the sudden, I was submerged into grief that I'd never felt before; intense, heartbreaking, and deep. So while I may have been handling the unemployment, uncertainty, and feeling of purposelessness with some degree of effectiveness up until that point, I knew very quickly that I was not enough to handle this. I am not enough to save myself, to bring myself peace, or to give myself hope; and anytime I tried, I ended up disappointed and unfulfilled.I realized that I don't want to be enough. I don't want the weight of working through grief and loss to fall solely on me and my abilities. I don't want each hardship in this life to be like a brick being placed on my back. If I was enough, I'd have to search within me for strength and all I'd find is weakness. In John, Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5, ESV). The word "abide" means to remain or continue. Just like a branch is dead without remaining in its vine, we are incapable of experiencing the fullness of life without Christ.Not being enough is what makes abiding in Christ such a beautiful thing. Without Christ, I cannot flourish. With Him, I bear fruit. All of my weaknesses are perfected in Him and when I abide in all that He is, I receive all that He has to offer. Now, every time I see the words "I am enough", I replace them with "Christ is enough". I point my heart back to Him and fix my eyes on all that He is, which will always be abundantly more than enough.

About the Author

Oliveah Friesen

Oliveah is 21 years old and lives in Ontario, Canada. She loves her relatively small-town life but also has dreams to move to the big city (Toronto)! She recently graduated with her degree in Public Relations, and while she seeks out her next steps she is pursuing her love of writing and branding through various projects.Oliveah is wildly passionate about sharing her faith and journey through life in an authentic and tangibly real way. Her motto is "keepin' it real" and her desire is to encourage women to find freedom from comparison and instead, embrace their identity as Daughters of the King.In her free time, she loves to read, refinish furniture, dance around the house while making mac & cheese, adventure with friends, and of course, write out her heart in Starbucks while sipping a delicious London Fog.You can find her on Instagram here and read more of her heart here.