God Loves You: Stop Striving – You Are Good Enough

I have always been a high achieving, performance based person. Goals were things to be conquered and I had a lot of them. I spun many plates at the same time and prided myself on being able to balance it all. Eventually, I realized that I had an unknown, underlying theme to working so hard. I thought that if I performed well enough, or worked hard enough, I would be accepted. Maybe the people around me would love me more. Maybe God would approve of me and bless me because I was doing enough to please Him. There was some sort of acceptance that I was trying to achieve through all my striving. I realized I was trying to earn God’s love. however, he loves me as I am, and God loves you as you are, as well.

One evening, a few years ago, I realized that I was doing all the things for the wrong reasons. I remember the Lord transcending space and time, in that moment, to show me my heart and tell me that He loves me as I am. I don’t need to earn it. There’s nothing I could do to make him love me more. I can come as I am and He will love and accept me for me. 

I hope that through this story, you can see that He also loves you regardless of what you have or have not done lately. No matter where you are in your journey, God loves you and you can come as you are. He accepts you for you, and doesn’t care what you have or have not done for him lately.

The Night I Realized God Loves Me No Matter What I Do

One evening, I was sitting on a couch in my basement. My kids were in bed, and my husband was out for the evening. I had been running really hard lately, doing all the things. All the things, that is, except for my time with God. I had been so busy trying to keep everything going, that I had let my quiet time and time in the word slip.

Looking forward to spending some quiet time with God, I sat down on the couch with my bible and notebook in hand. As I sat down, I realized how little I had been doing for Him lately, and started feeling really guilty. I remembered being told that if I let my quiet time slip, I was being “slothful.” What a terrible word. That was the last thing I wanted God to think of me.

While I picked up my books, I was wondering if I would hear anything from Him or connect very well with my reading because I hadn’t done anything lately to “earn” the ability to hear or see Him. As I had these feelings, a slip of paper slipped out of my stack of books and landed in front of me. I recognized this paper but didn’t remember what it said.

Backstory

I had received this paper about a month prior, at an appointment I had gone to. Someone had been praying over the people that were scheduled for that day, and got a “message” for me. They typed it and handed it to me. When I got it, I thought that it was odd. I had been growing with God at the time, and it made sense to me. As I read it, I thought, “of course God loves me. I know that.” So, I slipped it in my purse and hadn’t thought of it again.

Back to that Night

As I was sitting on the couch that night, I opened up that paper and tears started streaming down my face. That paper said, “Michelle – I heard the Lord say to me, ‘tell her I love her. She is very special to me. No one can replace her in my heart. That place is reserved for her only.’”

In that moment, I realized that I didn’t have to earn God’s love or approval. He gives us that gift by grace. No matter how hard I strive, on my own power, God won’t love me more or less. He doesn’t care what I’ve done for Him lately, just that my heart loves Him and wants to spend time with him. God wants to connect with me no matter what I have or have not done. He loves me for me and He loves you for you. 

The Lord transcended space and time to make sure that I knew He loved me no matter what I did or did not do. I couldn’t earn his love or do something to make Him love me less. Today, I want you to know that it’s the same for you.

God Loves You As You Are

God loves you no matter what you have or haven’t done for Him in your life. He loves you no matter what mistakes you have or have not made. You can’t earn his approval by doing all the “spiritual disciplines” and keeping all His laws.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God — not by works, so that on one can boast.”

-Eph 2:8-9 (NIV)

We try to be better because we love God and want to be more like Him. We don’t try to be good enough for Him to love us. He already does.

I feel like I have connected with a number of people lately who are realizing that they don’t need to strive and do all the things to be accepted. They are realizing that they are loved and accepted for who they are, and that this story has blessed them. I pray that it blesses you and that you realize how much you are loved without needing to “earn” it.

How about you? I’d love to hear from you if you realized any ways that you were trying to “earn” God’s love and acceptance while reading this. Please comment below. As always, if you liked it or think this might help someone you know, please share it.