Enough is enough.

Sometimes, something so vast, so bulky, SO weighty, gets thumped down hard on my soul. It becomes a force that I cannot disregard, a burden I cannot discount.

In instants such as this, I must share. I must expel the truths that are wearing away at the cords that comprise my heart. I must open my mouth, and I must speak.

More often times than not, I am not armed with eloquent language or sparkling words, but only the most core, concrete truth. As I try and tie a ribbon around certain things, I realize that not all things are meant to be knotted together with a bow. Some things are just not meant to be attractive, pleasing or appealing. Some things are meant to be raw and uncooked- sentences, fragments and resonances that lay hefty in thin air.

Over the past few weeks, I have heard pleas for prayer- calls in the middle of the night, anxious text messages in the middle of the morning, frantic tears in the late afternoon. As hours pass, more prayers are necessary. Sisters scream out, with souls throbbing over loneliness, sorrow, discontent and self-perception. With every appeal for intercession, my heart feels heavier. Oh, these sisters… sisters with stunning tresses, impeccable skin, the ideal job, the most superb friends…they are the ones who are aching. They cringe over their circumstances, their current season, their struggles. 

There are no words of mine to ease the agony, no paragraphs composed that take away the ache. So, I crawl on all fours to Jesus. I reach, and He reaches back.

And as I sit and wallow and cry out and writhe in front of my perfect Creator God, my Yahweh, my Eloheim, I am angered. I am TICKED. I am livid. I am MAD.

Sisters, we have our ears tuned in to the station dispelling all of the lies.

We have funded our subscriptions to Cosmo and signed up for the credit card at Nordstrom. We’ve scheduled the consultation with the botox clinic, the breast implant meeting with the plastic surgeon and the session with the personal shopper. We crack open books that encourage us to be overpowering, independent women, while our eyes pour over television shows that tell us to sleep with any man who walks by to find love.

We look out to a depraved world to find fullness. Somehow in our brokenness, we end up searching for more mess. Sisters, the Father of Lies is wooing, and we are swooning right into his arms. He is enticing, and we are being knocked off of our feet.

I do not have a self-help book that will solve every problem moving in your situation. I don’t know a single psychologist or mentor that can take your distress, your agony and your restlessness away from you. But girls, I know Jesus, and I know His word. I know that He does not ever want to sway you to believe lies. Lies that say you aren’t good enough, that your personality is too much or that you don’t deserve grace. His heart just cracks in half when He sees you falling under the weight of deception.

He created you. He knows you. He looks at you with a twinkle in His eye because He sees redemption coursing through your veins. Redemption that He pumped into your dry bones.

But, don't be fooled. I am not writing for the purpose of convincing you that you are beautifully, wonderfully enough.

If you are convinced that you are not pretty enough, good enough or skinny enough: I CAN NOT CONVINCE YOU OF THAT ON MY OWN. No one wrapped in human flesh and bone can. My words are flawed. My encouragement has traces of human understanding and is completely empty on its own. 

But He, our redeemer, our rescuer, our beloved Father… He murmurs truth. If you are called back to your brokenness, disheartened over who you are, that is NOT the voice of the Lord God. That is the voice of His enemy.  

Oh, sisters, I plead to you... TURN TO JESUS. Turn to Him. Look Him in the eyes. If I could, I would yell it from every rooftop around the world.

No, we are not worthy on our own merit... there was nothing good about us before Jesus. But, a sacrifice was made because He KNEW that. A price was paid for our redemption and our rescue. Claim it, live it, recognize it, and stop tuning in to a bunch of lies.

Psalm 139: I will offer You my grateful heart, 

for I am Your unique creation, filled with wonder and awe. 

You have approached even the smallest details with excellence; 

Your works are wonderful; I carry this knowledge deep within my soul