How do you measure up?

This past week I had the privilege to sit under the teaching of Trillia Newbell.  It was such a blessing to listen to all the Lord had taught her and I loved how much she challenged me.  The focus of that evening was fear when it comes to "measuring up".  How often as women do we let fear in our relationships, our children, our marriage, our jobs, or our lives in general.  When we are not making the Lord our measure we will always leave ourselves open to feeling inadequate, needing to keep up with others and lacking in areas where we struggle.  Many of us have heard of the Proverbs 31 woman and if you have read about her, you too may have felt inadequate.  I always thought this until Trillia pointed out verse 30.

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting,

but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.

When our focus and our measure in on the Lord it is easier to not fall into the pit of inadequacy.  We are all fearfully and wonderfully made.  We are all on this earth for a purpose and the Lord does not make mistakes.  When we as women can embrace this, then we reach a point in our lives of letting go of fear and embracing empowerment.

It is really easy to get caught up in all the trappings of this world and let the world tell us how to measure each other and ourselves.  However, this is a broken system because this is a broken world.  Instead we need to focus on our Sovereign Lord  who is above all things and created all things.  In this we can find grace, love, acceptance, joy, beauty and the vibrancy the Lord wants each of us to have.  I struggle with fear all the time but Trillia reminded me that when my fears begin to build I need to remind myself that my only measure is the Lord and through the love and grace of Jesus I will always be accepted.  If that is not amazing then I don't know what it.  May we all this next week remind ourselves of how the love and grace of Jesus frees us from the expectations of the world and sets our eyes on the only one who really matters.

Check our Trillia's wonderful new book on fear and faith.