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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As a assistant manager in my place of business and leadership not one of my strengths I feel very defeated when let things fall through the cracks. I know I have to draw on strength from Jesus. He gave me this job and He has promoted me and blessed me in it. I pray for His wisdom daily and let Him work through me, I just need to quit getting in the way.
I’ve always struggled with feeling like my best was not enough. Other people would remind me of my accomplishments but for some reason I allowed the enemy to cloud my mind. I didnt believe it! It took some soul searching and the death of my father whom I love more than life to show me that I am exactly what god says I am. My dad use to say Tara you have to believe that you are and I never understood until recently. I might have made mistakes but God still loves me and I will always be his child. I should look to him and and keep my eyes and ears focus on what he says and not what man thinks.
Thank you for a great devotional! I have always battled the lies of Satan that I am not good enough. My best was never good enough for my parents. God has blessed me with being bright and talented, yet there were other challenges that always got in the way of seeing those gifts fully realized. It has been a long journey to learn that God DOES love me where I am at. He has given me the challenges so that I would rely on Him instead of my strengths. All the other gifted people in my family have no need for God. They live like they are good enough, yet I know emotionally they don’t feel that way. I am learning to be like Paul and boast about my weaknesses, because God fills in the gaps, and does a far better job at it than I would in my strengths!
What I appreciated the most about your post was the practical of making the three lists to get a clear picture of truth.
Thanks!
Need to always ask God for his best in us. We need to be his light to others.
Hi Renee,
You always seem to post what is on *my* heart. Your devotional is what I needed to ‘hear’. I feel I let people down. I asked for help in the way of yarn to be donated whether the yarn itself or the funds to get 3 huge balls of yarn in which I would knit washcloths to go in hygiene kits for Days for Girls international. I set the self-imposed goal of 12 washcloths a month and was hoping to do this for a year, but I found halfway through that I had not estimated the amount of time it would take me to make one (6-8hrs per washcloth). In the end, the deadline came (Sept.30) and I had not met my goal. I had 9 washcloths completed and a 10th in the works. I felt so awful about not being able to follow through on what I said I’d do. Someone even told me that I did well and I believed them for a second, but it was your devotional this morning that makes me feel better in my heart, not just words for my mind but a balm for my heart.
I have to readjust my goal now and with the words of your devotional it won’t hurt, make me feel guilty, bad, less than, etc. I am still ok. 🙂
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Sabrina/Mippy 🙂
I suffer from a couple chronic illnesses that are invisible most of the time to others, so there are many times I do what I can and others want me to do more because I don’t look sick to them. It’s at those times I need to go to my Heavenly Father thanking Him for my life, my abilities and even my disabilities, then I’m able to remove the guilty feelings about not doing more and not get frustrated with those that do expect more from me. God created me and I’m just the way He wants me to be, limitations and all.
Thank you Renee for sharing this today. So many times I have had that horrible feeling over come me. Thankfully I have learned to put it in Our Dear Lord’s hands. Blessings to you and thanks, Barb Wall
Oh Renee I have disappointed my husband his entire family and even my own family and friends by my words and actions that up to this day some are still talking about it and the guilt I feel overflows in me especially when I have to depend on my mother in law to be here for me because I am scheduled to have surgery to remove my left ovary left tube large complex cysts, cervix and endometriosis. My ca blood level is high and they are concerned about that too. I had already had a partial hysterectomy in 2008 now I have to go through this I honestly feel fine but my gyn said I need to have this removed because it keeps recurring and I have to have Open surgery. I am scared because I m new in the area and I had to see a specialist and I am not so comfortable with the doctor with the way my paperwork is being handled but he cones highly recommended by my gyn and a co worker of mine. I am going to a hospital closer to my home. Surgery is scheduled for 10/21. I know I need to put my TRUST in GOD fully I have head knowledge and not heart felt. I just started to go Wednesday nights to church meeting with a group of people from church but its hard for me to open up with them for some reason, maybe I am paranoid and I know I have a trust issue with people in general.
PLEASE PRAY FOR ME. I know others are going through worst situations than me too .thank you.
Being a ministers wife I feel an enormous pressure to give my best to honor my husband and the church. I also work full time and having the demands from both areas so heavily weighing on you the devil attacks in all directions to remind me my best is always going to fall short. I struggle with remembering trying is all God asks us to do, and if we succeed it is due to Him not us. I think remember that our best is not typically going to be good enough for the world will can remember it will always be good enough for God.
Even as I begin to type my thoughts, tears flow from my eyes. Your blog reminded me of an area to do with my old nature/flesh that I thought I was finished with forever. I always struggled with worry that I let others down or hurt someone (even if it was unintentional). I was in a Bible Study group where I’d been asked to be back up to the facilitator. Thankfully, that day, I’d come prepared and really quite full of excitement about the topic. But I was well aware that I needed to stay calm and not say too much in all my enthusiasm in order to give the others an opportunity to express themselves. I tried and I think I did okay overall, though there were times where I maybe said too much. In one of those moments I even reached over and touched my neighbor reminding her that what she and her neighbor were discussing alone could wait until later. Today she called me on the phone and wondered when I became the leader and that this had been quite insensitive. whew! I really had to work hard to separate all the facts from the emotions on this one. But by God’s grace, I’m working through it and I have courage to face the group next week even though I was contemplating skipping. God comforts and reminds me that I am just the way He made me and He will walk with me through all of my learning.
I’m a perfectionist – which often means I’m incredibly hard on myself… But the devotional reminded me that God doesn’t expect perfection – He simply expects me to do my best…
A few tears ago my professionalism and integrity were being questioned by my supervisor. I felt that everything I did was wrong and every time she walked in the room, I wondered “what have I done wrong now?” . I kept reading the Psalms and speaking the Word. I would testify about how God is my strength and my fortress. How He would turn this into good. Today, my supervisor and I are on very good terms.
Wonderful devotion to be reading especially right after a bad breakup. Thank you so much for this, Renee! I needed it today for sure. Most of the time I feel inadequate, and I definitely did in my ex’s eyes. Thanks again for the reminder that God loves us just as we are.
I often feel like I don’t measure up. Thank you for this devotional letting me see that in God’s eyes I’m OK!!!
For a while I believe what people were saying about me. I got to a very dark place. Finally, I realized I am a good person and am not who those people said I was. I was right in His eyes and that was all that mattered. I am in a happy place now not accepting who others say I am, but resting in the fact that I am His and that’s all that matters.
Often while coaching mens gymnastics, I feel and hear how inadequate I am because, I am a WOMAN! Even though my teams have been State Champions 3 years in a row and being the only woman coach often on the floor at a meet, you’re not good enough creeps into my heart and thoughts. When these thoughts from satan creep in I have to step back and remember the verse I taught the boys on the teams when they are struggling. Phillipians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 10 fingers is our team motto this is what my boys chant at a meet when a teammate is struggling or has fear. When I hearbthese words from these young men, I GET IT…..who cares if I am a woman and j didn’t do mens gymnastics, these boys are going to be well rounded knowing Gid loves them and they can do anything!!!
This is a great reminder of how the enemy is always prowling and attacking at our weak moments. When I feel I am not good enough or smart enough, I need to remember that I am in Gods eyes because He created me. I need to be prayerful in times of weakness and remember that Gods strength will overcome the enemy.
All of my life, I have felt like I was never good enough. I worked a job where everyone else has a college degree or some training for that particular job. I did that job but made less money. I have gotten myself in so many difficulties trying to please people, so I could be accepted. In the past few years, I have truly learned that it has all been for a purpose. God has allowed me to understand that He defines who I am, nobody else. Everyday is not not perfect even now, but God is in control and I pray more than ever and I know He has a purpose and a plan.
This is maybe one of my biggest struggles. Being a people pleaser is sometimes a down right curse! Especially since I am bound to feel inadequate in my trying a lot of the time. LIving with a perfectionist makes it all the more difficult as I am not one. I am working on finding my worth in God and knowing that he is pleased with me when the world often is not. Thank you for your insightful and sweet words!
I am still in the midst of learning this lesson. My Pastor shared this thought with us, “when you take even just a minute to let the negative thoughts, anger etc… you are giving those few minutes over to the enemy’ meaning, that even for those few minutes, you are serving the enemy, and not God”. That really hit me. I don’t want to give over even a second to the enemy. So, when the depression, or anger start to creep in, I remind myself about who I am in Christ, and that I have authority over those things. Thank you for sharing this, I really needed the reminder this morning. I will praise Him, no matter what the enemy throws at me today!