Are you good enough?

 I've been thinking a good bit lately about what others expect of us.... We have the normal school that everyone is expected to do great at, then there is sports, (basketball, gymnastics, cheerleading, softball, horse back riding, track, or etc) music (Band, piano lessons, singing lessons, any special instrument lesson, and etc), spending time with friends/family, 8 hours of sleep (that is a joke... i know!), work (Heavens to betsy some of us actually carry full time jobs with everything else going on!), volunteer hours, church, and then if you have time left over we are suppose to spend an ample amount of time with God. Not only are all of these requested... they are expected! As women we have so much thrown at us and yet we are still expected to be perfect at it all or at least we feel like it! Have you ever felt like you just couldn't meet everyone's expectations? It was impossible and no matter what you did it just wasn't good enough... It may be that you are working all the time and your boy friend keeps saying, "You never have time for me anymore" or your mom says after you get home from school and an assortment of sports practices, "I just never see you any more..." and then two seconds later she says, "Did i not tell you to make your bed, wash the dishes, and put away the clothes before school this morning?!". Now, before I get to far into this please realize that Im not bashing responsibility at all! I do think we need to be responsible and believe that if we say we will do something we need to keep to our word. Although, this is where Im going with this... we are not perfect and we will fail. Not everyone will love us and that is just life. I whole heartedly believe that we need to give our best effort in everything we do, but if we are doing so much then how can we do that? I've come to the bottom a few times in my life where i was just doing so much that I just couldn't do anything else. This weekend was one of those times. I've come to realize that my body gives me signals when Im on over load... such as, my ears hurt (I wont have an ear infection, but they will just ache), my head hurts, or Im sore all over. It's just the way my body works. It may not be the same for you, but do you know what your signs are? Some people get really irritable, others get very emotional, etc. With all that said, you should never get to that point. God is a God of peace. Yes, life isnt a meadow full of wonderful smelling roses, but at the same time it isn't.

What do I propose? First, PRAY!! Secondly, put your priorities in order... Honestly, Im the worlds worst at this. I love  to please people and so if you ask me to do something i will most likely say yes. This isnt always the most God honoring thing though.... If we are doing so many, "Good things" that we cant do the few things God REALLY has planned and set aside for us to do with our whole heart. I may be the only person that ever feels this way, but I highly doubt it...

I challenge you to write out all that you do (every single thing...you may need more than one piece of paper!) and acknowledge that yes, you are good enough! You may not be perfect, but as long as you try your hardest thats ok! Decide what you want to be your main focus. God, family, boyfriend? When you only have time to do one thing before you go to bed what will it be? One thing I was challenged to do the other day was for one hour each night to turn my phone off. This is my time to spend with God, family, do home work or whatever I need to get done that night. Not just "not txt" bc we all know how that goes, but to really turn it off. It helps so much to just get away from the world for a little while!