I Am Not Enough.

I am not enough for Africa. I am not enough for Mozambique. I am not enough for Maputo. And that’s alright, because I don’t have to be. Because Jesus Christ is enough.

This is something that God is in the long process of teaching me, and it really hit me today. Brittany and I had been playing with two sweet little girls in our ministry contact’s yard. We were playing with Britt’s guitar and the soccer and as I was watching them play, I noticed that their clothes were falling apart at the seams. The older girl, who is probably about 6, had a couple hang nails and some cuts on her hands. So I brought out my dollar store sewing kit and my nail clippers and sewed up the rips with sloppy, uneven stitches, and clipped their nails and gave them water and then they left. As they left, I was glad that I was able to love on those sweet girls in little ways, but I was also overwhelmed with the bleak situation. Because those girls have more clothes at home that are probably also falling apart. Bandaids don’t stay on little dirty hands for long, and in an hour, they’ll be thirsty again.

It’s funny how God answers prayers we don’t even know we’re praying, and replies to thoughts we don’t even know we’re thinking.

So God said to me, “Yeah, you’re right.”

What?? What am I right about??

“You’re right. You’ll never be enough. So stop trying to fix everything.”

Wow, God. Harsh much? But God wasn’t done.

“Brittany Lynn, even if you gave those girls everything you own, everything in your bank account, even if you gave them the entire world, it wouldn’t be enough. You will never be enough. Because I am enough. I am all that will ever be enough. Child, if you let me shine through you, you’re doing exactly what I want.”

In John 4: 1-26, Jesus encounters a woman at a well in Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, for his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

“How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” She asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you ‘Give Me a drink’, you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”

“Sir,” said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”

John 4:7-14 (HCSB)

In and of myself, I am not enough. Nothing I can do in Maputo, in Mozambique, in Africa, or at all in my lifetime will ever be enough if I don’t do it to show the love of Christ. If my actions, if sewing up that precious child’s shirt and giving her a drink of water, showed her the love of Jesus Christ and if my heart was seeking to demonstrate His compassion and His love, then it’s enough for that moment. Every moment is another opportunity to strive to be more like Christ in my words and actions, and if I am striving for that, it’s enough for the moment.

His love, His grace, His kindness and compassion, that is always enough.

I am not enough for Africa. I am not enough for Mozambique. I am not enough for Maputo. And that’s alright, because I don’t have to be. Because Jesus Christ is enough.

This is something that God is in the long process of teaching me, and it really hit me today. Brittany and I had been playing with two sweet little girls in our ministry contact’s yard. We were playing with Britt’s guitar and the soccer and as I was watching them play, I noticed that their clothes were falling apart at the seams. The older girl, who is probably about 6, had a couple hang nails and some cuts on her hands. So I brought out my dollar store sewing kit and my nail clippers and sewed up the rips with sloppy, uneven stitches, and clipped their nails and gave them water and then they left. As they left, I was glad that I was able to love on those sweet girls in little ways, but I was also overwhelmed with the bleak situation. Because those girls have more clothes at home that are probably also falling apart. Bandaids don’t stay on little dirty hands for long, and in an hour, they’ll be thirsty again.

It’s funny how God answers prayers we don’t even know we’re praying, and replies to thoughts we don’t even know we’re thinking.

So God said to me, “Yeah, you’re right.”

What?? What am I right about??

“You’re right. You’ll never be enough. So stop trying to fix everything.”

Wow, God. Harsh much? But God wasn’t done.

“Brittany Lynn, even if you gave those girls everything you own, everything in your bank account, even if you gave them the entire world, it wouldn’t be enough. You will never be enough. Because I am enough. I am all that will ever be enough. Child, if you let me shine through you, you’re doing exactly what I want.”

In John 4: 1-26, Jesus encounters a woman at a well in Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, for his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

“How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” She asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you ‘Give Me a drink’, you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”

“Sir,” said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”

John 4:7-14 (HCSB)

In and of myself, I am not enough. Nothing I can do in Maputo, in Mozambique, in Africa, or at all in my lifetime will ever be enough if I don’t do it to show the love of Christ. If my actions, if sewing up that precious child’s shirt and giving her a drink of water, showed her the love of Jesus Christ and if my heart was seeking to demonstrate His compassion and His love, then it’s enough for that moment. Every moment is another opportunity to strive to be more like Christ in my words and actions, and if I am striving for that, it’s enough for the moment.

His love, His grace, His kindness and compassion, that is always enough.

I am not enough for Africa. I am not enough for Mozambique. I am not enough for Maputo. And that’s alright, because I don’t have to be. Because Jesus Christ is enough.

This is something that God is in the long process of teaching me, and it really hit me today. Brittany and I had been playing with two sweet little girls in our ministry contact’s yard. We were playing with Britt’s guitar and the soccer and as I was watching them play, I noticed that their clothes were falling apart at the seams. The older girl, who is probably about 6, had a couple hang nails and some cuts on her hands. So I brought out my dollar store sewing kit and my nail clippers and sewed up the rips with sloppy, uneven stitches, and clipped their nails and gave them water and then they left. As they left, I was glad that I was able to love on those sweet girls in little ways, but I was also overwhelmed with the bleak situation. Because those girls have more clothes at home that are probably also falling apart. Bandaids don’t stay on little dirty hands for long, and in an hour, they’ll be thirsty again.

It’s funny how God answers prayers we don’t even know we’re praying, and replies to thoughts we don’t even know we’re thinking.

So God said to me, “Yeah, you’re right.”

What?? What am I right about??

“You’re right. You’ll never be enough. So stop trying to fix everything.”

Wow, God. Harsh much? But God wasn’t done.

“Brittany Lynn, even if you gave those girls everything you own, everything in your bank account, even if you gave them the entire world, it wouldn’t be enough. You will never be enough. Because I am enough. I am all that will ever be enough. Child, if you let me shine through you, you’re doing exactly what I want.”

In John 4: 1-26, Jesus encounters a woman at a well in Samaria on his way from Judea to Galilee.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, for his disciples had gone into town to buy food.

“How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” She asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you ‘Give Me a drink’, you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”

“Sir,” said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”

John 4:7-14 (HCSB)

In and of myself, I am not enough. Nothing I can do in Maputo, in Mozambique, in Africa, or at all in my lifetime will ever be enough if I don’t do it to show the love of Christ. If my actions, if sewing up that precious child’s shirt and giving her a drink of water, showed her the love of Jesus Christ and if my heart was seeking to demonstrate His compassion and His love, then it’s enough for that moment. Every moment is another opportunity to strive to be more like Christ in my words and actions, and if I am striving for that, it’s enough for the moment.

His love, His grace, His kindness and compassion, that is always enough.