Have you ever gotten that awful pit-in-your-stomach feeling after finding out you let someone down?
It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me as I read through an email from a client, sent to my manager and forwarded to me, describing how I had let some details fall through the cracks on a project.
A horrible sense of discouragement and embarrassment moved in for the kill.
In the past, I would have welcomed my uninvited critical thoughts to stay a while, resigned to the fact that I must be unable to do anything right!
But not this time; too many hurtful experiences had taught me to recognize failure as an opportune time for my opponent, the devil, to devour me with feelings of inadequacy and shame. This enemy is bent on making me believe that when my best isn’t good enough, I’m not good enough.
Fortunately, times of pain have also included hours of poring over God’s promises, gathering wisdom to deal with this unwelcome intruder. I have learned to be alert to the devil’s schemes and ready to stand against them. In 1 Peter 5:8-9, Peter tells us how:
“Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour. Be firm in the faith and resist him, knowing that other believers throughout the world are going through the same kind of suffering” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
After reading the email and letting my thoughts run wild for a few minutes, I knew I had to clear my mind. I asked the Holy Spirit to help me un-clutter my thoughts with the clarity of truth from logistical, circumstantial and spiritual points of view….
Read the rest of this story and what happened in my Encouragement for Today on the Proverbs 31 Ministries blog. But BEFORE YOU go…
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Yes. I was a meth addict for twelve years. During that time I came out pregnant with a child I didn’t want to have. Growing up being sexual molested I had shut my feelings out so I wasn’t excited about this pregnancy. I kept using and had my son in bad environments. My mother ended up taking him when he was a baby. I had my son and Continued to use. Well once he started school we noticed he was not catching on and not able to keep up with students. Come to find d out he had a brain disease. He deals with retardation. Every day for me use to be hard to wake up and face this when I got clear and sober 9 years ago. Christ came in and turned my life around and restored my life with my kids but when my son struggles this is the first thing that I feel Satan uses to attack me. It’s not easy having to watch your 16 yr old boy struggle and have the mind of a seven year old. But my story is God’s story so glory to God now
I have felt my best wasn’t good enough for a long time. I went through twenty years of depression, being a perfectionist and a people pleaser and it was exhausting. I couldn’t do it anymore. When I finally stopped trying to control my world and let God take over, it was the most freeing feeling I have ever had. I still slip from time to time but I know that God knows I am doing my best. I looked in the mirror one day and asked God to help me see me the way He sees me. That changed my life.
Jennifer, I am exactly in the position you were in, addicted to being a perfectionist in my professional life, working overtime, exhausted, and not taking time for my own physical and spiritual health. For various reasons I’ve felt inferior in my personal life for 30+ years, so I’ve focused solely on my profession where I strive to make an impact on others’ lives. It is a process to change thought patterns, but I am blessed with an amazing faith-filled supervisor and co-worker who are encouraging me along the way, and an even more amazing, glorious, & forgiving God who knows my heart, loves me for who I am, blesses me in what I do, and is ever-patient with me while I learn to “Let Go and Let God”. I thank Him and Proverbs 31 for these daily devotionals that are so meaningful and a blessing to so many.
I love this post because it is so true. It took me a long time to realize that little voice I hear telling me I’m not good enough is actually the devil telling me lies. I had to stop what I’m going and just pray at that moment and that always helps!
I loved this post. I am currently separated from my husband and feeling like I can “do no right” with my husband or my children. It’s just a hard place right now. But thank you for reminding me to turn to God and not let the devil in!!
I am so needing to hear this today. The devil is filling my head full of bad self thought and negativity about my life right now. Need to keep repeating this verse over and over. Thanks so much!
Your words are words of wisdom and truly come from the heart because they blessed my heart today. Thanks for sharing them and continue to do so. I will share these with others just as they were shared with me in hopes of warming someone else’s heart that needs it.
I let those thoughts over power me a lot and then I hear the soft whisper through a verse or a devotion like this! That’s when I write those verses or quotes on index cards and put them around the house! Thanks for the reminder!!
I’m a huge fan of Encouragement For Today. Every time I read them, the Lord speaks to my heart. This one was a reminder that I was not created to be defeated, guilty, ashamed or unworthy… I was created to be victorious. There are days I fall short of victory! If I remember to look up, spend time with Jesus, I regain victory. Thank you for sharing God’s Holy Word. Thank you for sharing your struggles, it is encouraging to know I’m not the only one. Blessings! Mary Wescott
It is so easy to jump to those negative thoughts when things don’t go right. It is always me. I am never good enough. I just can’t do anything right. Yep- it seems that I jump to those thoughts each time. But I don’t let them take over anymore. I fight them with God’s Word.
I read A Confident Heart for the first time a few years ago. Your book really helped me change the way I look at myself and how I react to things. Thank you so much for writing it and sharing your heart.
Thank you for continuing to share your heart. God Bless You!
I am so grateful for today’s devotion. I have been struggling so much lately with feeling inadequate. I have always had a problem with negative thoughts running rampant in my head. These two things paired together have made my last 3 years so tough. My husband left me, I lost my home, I am living with my in laws and feel like such a burden…but I am doing my best. Your devotion reminded me that my best is enough for God, and he is all that matters. I love receiving the daily devotions from Proverbs 31. Thank you for the wonderful words of encouragement you all provide!! God Bless you!
This was such a good and practical article. Not only did it help remind me that I am ultimately responsible to God for doing my best. It gave practical advice as to what to do in those times when I don’t measure up. Forgive myself, make honest evaluations, seek God’s face, and then make the appropriate adjustments so that I can not only serve God, but others as well.
I love how you talked about how you had a tendency to let negative thoughts linger for too long. I can so relate to that. I can play a bad parenting decision over and over in my head until I convince myself that I have no right raising children. And like you, as I spent more and more time in God’s word, I began to see how my thoughts were more consistent with the enemy’s than with God’s word. I still struggle, but now I can more easily discern between satan’s condemnation and the Lord’s gracious correction.
As a self-confessed perfectionist (and also lately Satan has been reminding me of my “shortcomings” in the past tempting me to have that “not good enough” feeling again), I am reminded by today’s devotional to resist the whispers of the enemy and rest in God’s love and grace. The spiritual truths you shared comfort and enlighten me…that these feelings of guilt and not being good enough are just the devil’s accusations, not what I first thought as conviction from the Holy Spirit. How consoling to know that God’s standard is not that of man. How refreshing to be reminded of the fact that God looks at our motives and intentions (faithfulness) rather on the “success” of our actions (fruitfulness). Thank you, Father God! Thank you, Jesus!
Proverbs deeply touches my heart and ministers to me. THANK YOU for your servanthood to Jesus and for sharing your wisdom/life story. GOD BLESS!!!!!!
That gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach is familiar to me. But, thank God, so is the belief that I can learn from my mistakes and press on and that fear does not have the final say. The book A CONFIDENT HEART How to Stop Doubting Yourself & Live in the Security of God’s Promises by Renee Swope has made such a difference in my life. I have always been a fearful person. Until I learned to fail forward, and embrace my God-given purpose, passions, and personality and have become determined to become the person God intends for me to be. It is still a daily decision, and I sometimes fail. But by the grace of God, I am “becoming!”
God has given me a passion for learning and ministering through sign language. I am learning, but am basically still a new student of the language. This week, I signed a couple of songs for a worship service. I didn’t do as well as I wanted, and started to feel like a failure, then realized that I can use the experience to press on and use it to push me forward. I am living and moving into my dream.
Thank you Renee Swope for being transparent enough to write your story and share your experiences. They are a treasure to me, and I look forward to reading and growing with you in the future.
Loved this. I often struggle as most of us with not measuring up to the gal the neighbor the co-worker. Women can be so competitive and I struggle to fit in. But I love the giveaways so I’m in.
I seem to set goals as to what I think God wants me to do and I always fail to achieve them. I start to dwell on how disappointed God must be in me. The devil is there to whisper in my ear, “Karen, how can God love you when you keep doing these things that you know aren’t good for you?” Sometimes I start to believe his lies, and then I remember that there is nothing good in me that makes be “worthy” of salvation, but God sees what I can become when I give Him control of my life. He is Love, His love never changes, no matter what I do or how many times I disappoint Him. He is so wonderful!
I felt God was ‘nudging’ me to step into being a back-up for a leader of a woman’s ministry in our church. She was excited and the ladies seemed to receive me well. As they shared their stories of abuse, my eyes would fill with tears for them & the pain they went through yet rejoice at how God had rescued & redeemed them. After several weeks, the leader asked if we could get together. I told my husband “I’m about to be fired”; “why would you think that?” Just a ‘gut’ feeling, or maybe God preparing me. When the leader & I got together, she could hardly make eye contact and we were just ‘chattering’; finally, I said, smiling, ‘you’re going to fire me aren’t you?’ She laughed and asked why I would ask that; told her it was okay, God had put me into that place for a reason & I was ok with whatever – just wanted what was best for the ladies. “Yes, there’ve been comments made that you cry too much and you’ve never had their struggles so how could you understand what they’re going through?” (don’t remember much else of the ‘why’). Ouch! In that moment, I was okay to be ‘relieved’ of the responsibility. Later, the enemy used it against me, trying to keep me from stepping into any other opportunities – ‘you’re not enough, you don’t know enough, not good enough’ etc. What he intended for evil, God truly meant for good. I’ve been able to continue to love these ladies as God allows our paths to cross & He has opened so many other doors! I am so thankful for God’s grace and that we are overcomers in Him!
Thank you so much for this….as a full-time working mom I strive to “have it all together”. But sometimes that just isn’t going to happen, we are human and we make mistakes. Trying to learn from them and trying to be better organized shows that you did not intend to let things fall through the cracks but you are willing and desire to make things right.
I have a problem with trying to be perfect. It gets worse the older I get and I expect my children to do the same. Thank you for reminding me that whatever the outcome of what we do, if we try our best, it is good enough for God. We shouldn’t let human expectations rule our lives, but God’s expectations!