You are a FAILURE.

“Human beings are the only creatures who are allowed to fail. If an ant fails, it's dead. But we're allowed to learn from our mistakes and from our failures. And that's how I learn, by falling flat on my face and picking myself up and starting all over again.”

― Madeleine L'Engle

You are a FAILURE.

I have heard this phrase and many other similar ones with similar meanings daily throughout my life.  These words have been screamed at me from the moment I wake up and often times until I lay my head down on my pillow at night.  These words smirk at me from my reflection in my mirror and they resound in my heart and mind during most of my wakening hours.  They are a reminder of all the things I'm not.  Often times, this words make getting out of bed difficult at times and make falling to sleep hard as well as you're greeted with these words first thing in the morning and pondering the truth of these words in the wee hours of the night.   

While I never heard the words "You are a failure" from my parents, my family, or from my friends... The world and my mind have told me I was a failure for many years.

You're not smart enough.  You're not educated enough.  You're not pretty enough.  You're not thin enough.  You don't read enough or workout enough or dress well enough.  You don't pray enough or serve others enough.  You are too opinionated, you're not motivated enough, etc.

While this is the ongoing message that my heart and mind often shout out at me, I am thankful to begin to hear a conflicting message.  A message that reminds me that I am enough.  That someone sees me as enough.  I am thankful that through my years of disordered eating, self-hatred, and disgust with my body--HE thought I was enough.  I am thankful that through difficult times in my personal life or family life--throughout the mistakes I've made--He saw me as enough.  I am thankful that after my sweet baby when I felt as though I lost myself for a while, HE still saw me as enough.  Even when my body didn't bounce back like I thought it would after baby, he STILL sees me as enough.  Even now as I struggle and wonder about my qualification to find my new roles as mother/wife/pastor/employee, He sees me as enough.

He has never once viewed me as the failure that I view myself as.  He has many-a-time picked me up off the ground, brushed the dirt off my knees, and wiped my tear-streaked face and told me, "You are enough.  With all of your flaws, you are enough."

Adam and Eve were failures.  Moses was a failure.  David was a failure.  But God has given us (as humans) the unique ability to fail and yet try again.  Those times when we let Him, ourselves, or others down... We are enough.  The times when things don't work out quite like we thought they would, we are enough.  The times where the hurt of rejection is seemingly overwhelming and has left you questioning your worth... YOU ARE ENOUGH.

So what if we fail, it's going to happen.  But when it does, allow God to pick you back up, dust you off, and give you the strength to try again.  We are after all, the only species He saw as important enough to give second chances to.