You Be You: A 7-Day Reading Plan with Jamie IveyExemplo

Good Time for a You-Turn?

You’ve probably heard and seen these sayings pop up in your Pinterest feed, the things people put out there to motivate and inspire us. 

• Girl, you got this.

• You’re enough.

• Hustle more.

• Get things done.

• Pick yourself up by your bootstraps.

• You can do anything you put your mind to.

• You control your destiny.

• You are your own boss.

All of these ideas are good. They’re super motivating. But I’d like to suggest they’re lacking. They are shallow and unsustainable. Not one of them is capable of bringing lasting hope and peace to your life. Not one of them is powerful enough to help you overcome whatever real-life struggle you’re facing. I’ll even go far enough out on the ledge to proclaim that these truths alone can be damning. Notice I said, “these truths alone.” Most of them are not entirely bad in themselves. In fact I’ve probably said them all to different people at various points in my life. But what I’m seeing today is a world where women of faith are taking these cute little sayings and standing on them as if they were the way and the truth and the life.

They’re not.

That’s the danger in these sayings. They can’t hold up under the pressures of the world. Because, no, you’re not enough, girl. You ain’t got this. You can’t hustle enough, can’t get enough things done. You can’t do everything you set your mind on, no matter how badly you want to do it. You don’t control your own destiny, because the One who made you has the days of your life already numbered, planned, and written for you. And sometimes, no matter how American it sounds to think it, life can be so hard sometimes that there aren’t enough bootstraps in all the world to pull yourself up with. Know what I mean? Yes, I think deep down you know what I mean.

We are only enough because Jesus is enough. The only good things coming from you and me are coming from the Father.

So when I say You Be You, understand I’m not just spouting a cheap shout-out. I’m saying YOU have a strength of calling that originates in the mind of God. I’m saying YOU have a voice and platform that matters immensely today simply because it’s the voice He’s given you. I’m saying YOU have talents and giftings that He’s invested in you, designed for a purpose way bigger than yourself. I’m saying YOU can be definitely, biblically assured that no trial, no tragedy is oppressive enough to suffocate what He’s put you on this earth for.

And this means YOU can experience satisfaction today. YOU can experience success today. Real satisfaction, real success, comes from doing what YOU do, doing it where YOU are, and doing it in faithfulness to the God who has lovingly, strategically put YOU there.

PRAY 

Dear God, please help me look to You as my source for being “good enough,” and please make clear to me your calling for my life over and above the world’s definitions of calling and success. Empower me to use the voice you gave me to fulfill the purposes you have for me so that you may be glorified and people may come to know you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.