Confessions from Miss Imperfect
As you read this, I’m less than a day away from the launch of the new Miss Perfect: Discovering God’s Purpose without the Pressure class to the women of my home church, Highpoint. I can’t wait! In the upcoming weeks, we’ll move ahead and officially introduce Miss Perfect beyond the walls of Highpoint with a launch on September 1st. It will be another exciting milestone as we get the word out so other women can break free from the pressure I’ve felt for way too long.I’m passionate about this message because it strikes so close to home. While I’m grateful for the journey I’ve been on, it would’ve been so much better if I’d realized the subtle ways the enemy had deceived me years earlier. I think about the way I’d have done things differently, had I not always been striving. Make no mistake: I haven’t arrived. If you ask anyone in my family, they’d be the first to tell you that carefree still doesn’t describe me quite yet… but, gratefully, free does.[bctt tweet="The blessings in our lives from the Lord aren’t the result of our performance."]However, in my priority time yesterday, the Lord reminded me of yet another way we get duped into striving. As I’ve been praying for the start of this study, I’ve realized that there’s a part of me that hasn’t felt like I’ve done enough to receive God’s favor upon this project. Today, this statement came to me as I prayed:
It hasn’t been because you've ever been good enough,but because I am good.
The blessings in our lives from the Lord aren’t the result of our performance. Yet even in our faith we can get sucked into a season of thinking we do or don’t deserve God’s blessing or provision based on our performance. Of course, God blesses obedience. Yet He’s also a merciful father who is good and doesn’t love simply based on our output for the week.I’m certainly not a psychologist, but it occurred to me how people are either successful or unsuccessful at striving. If you’re successful, you find yourself addicted to the process… always hoping it’ll give you the victory and peace of a previous success. If you’re unsuccessful, you struggle with shame and failure. Either way, we begin down a road that takes us far from where God met us. We start to measure our worth by our striving. We forget His worth. We forget that the Lord actually wants us to exchange our yolk for His.[bctt tweet="We often measure our worth by our striving."]Tomorrow, Miss Perfect will be taught by Miss Imperfect. But that’s OK. He’s that good Father who’s not measuring His blessing by how well I’ve prayed and fasted, or by how many people I’ve invited. He’ll bless His purposes. Your imperfections and mine won’t slow Him from accomplishing His work on this earth… and in our hearts!So, what about you? Is there somewhere you need to realize that it’s not about you being good enough?You and I will never be good enough to earn His favor. He knows that. Now, if only we will remember.