Will Your Love Ever Be Enough? - iBelieve Truth: A Devotional for Women - February 5, 2025
"Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless. Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died. 'Lord, help!' they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress. He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live. Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." Psalm 107:4-9
My nineteen-year-old heart was sure I could love him into loving me. If I reigned in my disdain for his favorite football team, my quirky obsession with Bronte’s Heathcliff, and my tangents regarding the illiteracy behind his cussing (though, truthfully, motherhood has challenged my once-tamed tongue), he would, well, finally—
love me?
Or would the cycle of hurt continue as he—
tolerated me?
appeased his mother who hand-picked the good little girl who played piano at church to date her son?
It’s been over a decade, and my heart is so soft and broken for that young woman. When I think about her, I shake my head, though smiling, and whisper, “You were never enough because he was never enough for himself.”
But even harder to swallow is this: our love never meets the mark for anyone or anything.
It never reaches that coveted fulfillment because humans are so fickle with love’s eternal, perfect gift that is Enough.
Enough is crafted, packaged, and shipped from heaven to our muddied, sin-rodden gates, where man forever moans that deliveries aren’t fast enough and the contents aren’t shiny enough for us to keep our mistakes from rusting Enough’s splendor. We want a refund, a quick exchange, anything except this one thing that didn't meet our narrow-minded, limited perspective's idea of enough.
Oh, we try giving love our best, and I believe all heaven rallies around our efforts, but we aren’t Enough. We will never be enough
for ourselves.
our sweet sixteen crushes.
our friends we hand-threaded “forever” bracelets with.
our spouses we vowed our souls to.
our children we swore we’d fight hell for.
anyone and anything outside Enough.
He’s the only fulfiller, the only perfect acceptor of imperfect, unacceptable people, and if you’ve been a believer or simply a church-goer for any time, you know this. But knowledge can be dangerous, fatal if spilled over from the heart of God yet left on the sanctuary’s floors, settled under the pews, destined to warp and mold as we count truth nothing more than an arm’s distant thought we’ll drink in some other time.
Our withered hearts beg for sustenance, so we take a swig of facades packed with misguiding flavors.
Sex with Mr. Six-foot-four-with-blue-eyes will quench the desperate need for connection, won’t he?
The new trad-wife life mimicked from that Instagram influencer will make home lovely, won’t it?
The meditation, yoga pose, or mantra about self-care and self-love will force its way through; you’ll eventually be enough for you, all on your own, won’t you?
My friend, oh, my sweet friend, the hard answer is no.
But I can’t drop this truth on your shoulders and trudge away without promising that there’s hope.
There’s a daring, unsafe, reckless, selfless reason to hope:
When God shipped Enough to us, He wasn’t bubble-wrapped. He wasn’t FRAGILE! or screaming, DO NOT BEND. He wasn’t trying to play it safe, to arrive, let alone leave, unscathed.
In our messy stratosphere, Enough can only be unboxed and carried and shared by hearts unwhole, unkempt, unsure, restless, anxious, volatile, longing, fragile, bent, begging, reeling, and needing, desperately needing, more.
The gift of Enough is for those who will never be enough.
Let's pray:
God, I can't ignore my deep, desperate desire to be enough for the people who take up space in my tiny piece of the world, whether toxic or trustworthy, helpful or hurtful. They have made me who I am, shaped my worldview, and become flesh and bone I label "friends" and "family." Even still, you call me to recognize one simple truth: You are the only love that will ever be enough. Help me not only know but live this truth so I may love others when it's hard, extend grace to myself when I'd rather not, and long for nothing more than meaning that's wrapped in what's eternal. May you be enough only because I've recognized I nor anything else in this world ever can be. Please, God, allow this truth, though hard to swallow, to set me free. Amen.
Photo Credit: ©Kelly Sikhema
Related Resource: Anxiety: Practical Steps for Healing in Christ
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