Daily Delight

 

“I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath.” -Psalm 116:1-2 (NLT)

You know that lie you keep believing? The one that will not relent no matter how much you beg God to erase it? For me, it’s that I’m not enough. I can read that God delights in me, that I bear His very image, that He has plans for, but it’s always lurking and ready to strike the second someone questions my parenting or has a critique about an event I’ve poured hours into or the day I have to buy a new bathing suit. I thought of insecurity as just an annoyance, so when those thoughts of “someone else would’ve handled it better” “they’re definitely questioning your ability to do this”, or “If only my body looked like that”, I tried to just push through. God has shown me that the ache isn’t to be suppressed but traced. It has a purpose. It points to a deep wound needing more than a quick fix; a that isn’t found in self-care, support groups, or even necessarily a single passage of God’s word. They can lead us in the right direction, but the answers to our insecurities are found in the presence of God. There we can finally hear that though we are not “enough”, He is enough.

Jesus whispers, “My plan for you is to grow you closer to me, not for you to accomplish more. I intentionally made you who and what you are. I will give you grace and power to do what I ask of you, not what you task yourself with.”

So what’s the long-term prognosis? Our progress as Christ followers won’t look like society’s version. God isn’t concerned with ‘just making it happen’, but deep, lasting restoration.

Sit with the Lord and let Him begin to rewrite the words upon your heart. When the pain resurfaces, know God is preparing you for the next level of treatment. For now, I’m celebrating each small victory as a reminder that God cares deeply about my heart and looking with hope to the day I stand before Him, finally whole.

{pictured: @manushkabains ; photo: @luke_renard}

About the Author

Jessica Hendrick

Jessica lives in Chesapeake, VA with her husband, Bryan, and their two young children, Jack & Jane. Never in a million years would she have thought after getting her Masters in Counseling and studying Biofeedback that she would forego job applications and become a stay-at-home mom, but God revealed the true desire of her heart that year.

She happily serves as the Women’s Ministry Director at her local church and relishes any opportunity God gives her to encourage women in their spiritual journey.

Whenever she isn’t pouring over homeschool curriculums or attending a UVA football game, you can find her taste-testing at the nearby Krispy Kreme.