014: Am I Enough? The truth you need to know.

Have you ever wondered 'am I enough?' This simple question has borne a hole in the hearts of many as they try to figure out who they are and their purpose. In this episode, I'm going to share with you how God broke this often used affirmation down for me. And how he used it to flood me with joy, peace, and relief!

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Transcript

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Michelle Remington: 1:20

Have you ever asked yourself? Am I enough? If that's something that resonates with you right now, if you feel that right now, then this episode is for you. This is something it's a concept. It's a thought it's a fear, a worry that so many people go through men and women, everybody seals this at some point in their life? Am I enough? And today, we're going to begin a dive into biblical affirmations. Because this is an affirmation that a lot of people use, I am enough. And this is something you know, I've talked about affirmations previously on my shows, and this is something really important because affirmations are a truth that you're supposed to be speaking into your life. And that's why we want to be very intentional about the affirmations that we speak into our life and remind ourselves of because we're rewriting a conversation and negative conversation that's been going on in our minds. So sit back, get you some coffee, tea, it's time to have that talk.

Worth It! Intro: 2:51

Welcome to worth it. The podcast where we answer anxiety, deflate fear and shut down shame, because ain't no woman got time for that you were made to thrive. My mission is to help you get deeply rooted with God and reclaim your weapon that the enemy of God has been using against you. After going to battle for my own mind. Three years ago, I realized that there is a war going on for our minds. A battle that begins with how we think since you have much more control than you realize. With each episode, you'll learn how to fight back and become more confident and the truth that God already knows. You are worth it. I'm Michelle Remington, Christian mindset coach, thought strategist and warrior Mama. Grab your sword daughter of the king, it's time to unleash your inner warrior princess.

Michelle Remington: 3:48

Welcome back. You beautiful warrior woman you are warrior man. There's there's men that listen to this podcast as well. And today is going to be an interesting episode. And I just want you to come to this episode. Because we're dealing with the thought of Am I enough, come to it with an open mind knowing that you are loved by the Almighty God that created everything that knows you better than you know yourself. And this is something that I've actually recently dealt with in myself this was this was something that the Lord brought about in me and helped me to deal with and you know what, since I've dealt with it, I have felt so much joy and liberation, freedom and I want you to have this same thing. You're gonna find a lot as I go through this podcast that I'm still going through my healing process. Some of that damage was done by other people, some of that damage was done by myself. And I want to share that with you because I know that we're all going through something. And we all have these kinds of thoughts in these kinds of conversations in our minds. So my purpose is to bless you.

Mental Health Disclaimer: 5:31

Before we dive in, I do want to say that I am not a mental health professional. I'm simply sharing from my experience with depression, the strategies and steps that helped me. So first and foremost, I want you to know that you are not alone. Reach out to friends and family, tell them how you're feeling. Don't be afraid to ask for help. The world is so much better with you in it. If you need help, or resources, or just more information for yourself or for someone else, I encourage you to reach out to the National Suicide Prevention hotline, their phone number is 1-800-273-8255. That's 1-800-273-8255.

Michelle Remington: 6:22

As you know, life can be super crazy, especially this last year, trying to deal with everything in life on top of a pandemic, and all of that everything that comes with that. And at times, it feels like I have always struggled with trying to balance family, relationships home and work. And as a woman and a follower of Jesus, I thought that I had to be up to code as a godly woman, a perfect proverbs 31 woman, balancing it all, effortlessly, and being a flawless example to all. Sound familiar? Sound impossible. That's because we're human. Now I'm pretty sure that most women have felt the pressure at one time or another, to be everything to everyone. I mean,

even First Corinthians 9: 7:28

22 says, I have become all things to all men, that I might, by all means safe. So we have that word in our mind. So it creates an expectation. But that scripture can be easily misunderstood. We think that as believers, we need to do everything in our power to be the best Christian so that we can make it to heaven. And don't get me wrong. I am a passionate believer. There's nothing wrong with trying to do your best by what God's word says. But oftentimes, what happens is that Christians get taken advantage of while they are trying to do their best for God. So they end up thinking that being put out means you are selflessly serving. And there's so much of a push to work to get the works out there. And sometimes the attitude is that you may feel burnt out and stressed, but just pray for God to help you, you'll make it through. There's so much focus on doing good works, that your relationship with God starts to suffer, and eventually becomes damaged. See, it's backwards. It's a it's a backwards way of going about because we're supposed to be doing those works for God. And it's not by those works only that were saved by God. But a lot of times, we get hyper focused on that. Now James

2: 9:16

26 clears it up for us. For as the body without the spirit is dead. So Faith without works is dead also. Simply put, we need both. You enter into a relationship with God through your spirit. And as you gain a better understanding of who God is, your faith grows, as you understand and experience God more. Then he began to show works because if your faith in God, your old ways, don't match up with the conviction and integrity of the person that you are becoming. You can't act in your old ways you're not that person anymore. Your motives and your attitudes have changed. But oftentimes, we get so focused on showing the fruits of our new way of living. We're excited, we want to get involved in every church event. We want to share our faith. We want to show the world that we are living for God, and we want to show them that living for God is amazing. And that we don't want them to miss out. And there's nothing wrong with those things. Yet, having broken through the darkness of the soil, what God brought us from, we're still only a sprout, there's a lot more growing to be done. And I'm sure you've seen how in your own zealousness, we can get in our own way, and hinder our growth. I've lost count of the times that I have tripped over myself, or completely blocked myself from getting to where God wanted me to be. Now, your relationship with God may be suffering. Because you're focusing on your works, you start to become spiritually malnourished. And your spirit is fed by God's Spirit. This is where I found myself. I was giving and giving and giving and giving and giving. And as God was working through me, and in me, my focus was off. And I started doubting myself, my journey, and even God, all this focus on trying to be the best version of myself, for God, to meet the potential that I thought that he had for me when I really just needed to just put myself in God's hands, and stop there. See, I didn't realize how I had inched closer and closer to my vision in the mirror of who I was molding myself to be. I had chosen certain words and phrases of affirmation that resonated with my deepest insecurities. But they would never heal the wounds that were so easily agitated. I would get so frustrated with myself like I I'm doing, I'm doing everything, you know, like all these mental health things, I'm doing these, I'm praying to God, and I'm still missing something, those wounds still got easily agitated. And I was just spinning and spinning and spinning and it felt like I wasn't getting any getting anywhere. And I realized that those words would only ever be a band aid. I would eventually get frustrated at their refusal to heal. That's where I found myself and some of those wounds. Some of those biggest fears were that I was not worthy. Not valuable, and would never be enough. which, frankly, lead to a vicious thought cycle of you're a worthless piece of trash. That will never be enough. Have you ever talked to yourself like that? That is a double edged serrated sword straight through the gut. Nobody knows how to hurt you better than you are repeat that nobody knows how to hurt you better than you. Why do we do that? Like I was literally taking turns with the enemy of God beating myself up with those words. It nearly made me end my life. Nevertheless, as Paul says, nevertheless, God had been at work in me and redeeming what I attempted to destroy. God has helped me see that I will never be enough. that's a that's a hard thing to hear at first, but let's follow it up with some truth. I will never be enough for myself, my husband, my family or my friends. I will never be enough for myself because I need more than me. I need God. And I can't be God to myself. I've been on a journey of personal growth for a few years now. And recently, I found myself getting frustrated. I haven't been meeting my own expectations. And I've noticed that I've regressed into certain behaviors and thoughts. But most of all, I've been frustrated because I felt like I have never been accepted by the world, my family, my church, my friends, just being real honest here. This is what led me to a feeling of not being enough or, more appropriately, this feeling of not being enough, is what led me to feel like I wasn't accepted. I wasn't loved. I wasn't valued. And this like cuts to the core of humanity versus living with God. Who is I tried to be, it hasn't been the real me, it's been this ideal of who I could possibly be. But no real vision or plan to get there. So this pseudo me has led my thoughts, my decisions, my actions. Up until now, I haven't noticed because pseudo me, was part of my rescue team. When I was held captive in the dungeon of my mind, I had basically kind of been using it as a crutch, to build myself up and tell myself I am enough, I am valued, I am loved. And I am valued, I am loved are true things. But I was using them in the wrong way. I was thinking of them and positioning them in the wrong way. So now God has prepared me to level up and pseudo me is no longer needed. Gods like, Okay, you've been using this as a crutch for a long time. But if you're going to level up and go further with me and reach the potential that I've created you for, you got to let this thing go. That's how I've been standing in my own way. I don't know if this resonates with you. If you're still listening, I'm guessing it probably does. And I pray that Jesus is speaking to you right now. Now, if you would ask me a week ago, if I was enough, I would have emphatically gone into a spiel about how it's all society's fault that women feel like they are not enough unrealistic expectations are to blame. And if you would have looked me in the eyes and said that you are not good enough, it would have been a trigger that spun me into the darkness of my in securities. Yet today, within a matter of minutes, God showed me that those in securities were rooted in the thought that I had to be enough for me, and I was trying to be God to myself. That's deep. In you may need to listen to this episode, you may need to simmer on this. And absolutely take that time to do that. Take that time. Take this to prayer like God, this is something that like it, you'll know if it's resonating in you, you'll know that this is something that God's trying to speak to you on. But it's tough. It's really hard. Because those insecurities, dig deep. They go deep into you, but in a moment, in a moment's time, as how good God is in a moment's time. God set me free from that. And now it's upward and onward. I pray that for you, I pray that you'd have that same experience, because there's so many things holding us back and a lot of times it's ourselves. And I am just amazed that in a matter of minutes, God showed me that I will never be enough. No, it sounds completely insane. I am very okay with that. I'm like, Praise Jesus. He set me free. He set me free. And I tell you right now, and what's been happening since I had this moment with God and he he did it in the most beautiful time. It was during Hanukkah. It goes a time to rededicate yourself, rededicate your temple back to God. So is a very beautiful time for God to do this. Ever since then Joy has been returning to me, because I got out of my own way. And I focused my attention back on the real center of my universe. Jesus is the real Center, the real son. It's like all those years ago when I called out to God, in my darkest moment, I was so hyper focused on myself that I was the biggest planet in this solar system. And the sun, Jesus was just a faraway star, but I could still see his light. So I called out to him. And then my orbit drew closer to Jesus, it gave me balanced to my previously wobbling solar system that was so close to collapse. Jesus brought balance and stability to my life, the more I focused on him, and drew close to him. Throughout my journey with God, I have gone through, we'll call it several orbits of growth, drawing closer at times, gravitating away, at times, all the while still trying to maintain balance between me and God. There's a reason that doesn't sound right. Because as God's creation, we can never be equal with God, He will always be our father, our Creator, we can never be those things, to the uncreated one, the one that created you. So I know, in today's world, a very, very prevalent affirmation that a lot of people seek after is, I am enough. And that's why we're starting to break down these affirmations. Because these affirmations I mean, the Bible speaks about affirmations, and letting the word affirm you. And so what that means for believers like ourselves is that those affirmations should be rooted in God's word. That's why we're breaking this down. And I know it's a, it's a sensitive one. It's a challenging one. But I'm following the leading of God here. And this one of the most damaging, there is freedom in being who God created you to be. And the truth in that is that you're not meant to be enough for everyone in your life, you're not meant to be enough for yourself. As you probably know, when you try to be your own source of inspiration, and life, you can only do so much, you don't have the rest to give. And when it comes to being enough for other people, you only know what you know, of those people. You don't know them, like God knows them. God is the only one that knows every single person on this earth, the most intimately, deeply better than they know themselves. God is the only one, the only one kind of like, if you look at the story of Joe, the enemy of God thought he knew that job would be trade God, but God saw his heart, and God sees your heart. So if I could give you a word from the Lord, from a sister from a humble daughter of the king, is that you will never be enough. And you weren't meant to be you were just meant to be you. You are meant to be the beautiful child that God created with love. Such immense love that we cannot even fathom it. So I don't know what you've been going through. I don't know where you are right now. But God does. So I want to encourage you to make some time with God today. And every day. Get to know the Almighty God who created you so that you can get to know yourself better. Understanding that once you set out on that journey with God, that relationship with God, he's going to have to do some work to be able to begin to reveal to you the beauty of how He created you. But don't worry His work is perfect. His work is always love, love, and he will never leave you nor forsake you. You can always turn to him he's only ever a word away. Thank you for joining me on this episode of worth it. If this episode has blessed you in some way, I invite you to leave a review and make sure that you subscribe to this podcast for more encouraging content. Until next time, remember you are worth it.