The laundry is still unfolded, the emails unanswered, the to-do list undone. I sigh and ask, “Have I been productive at all today?”

Anxiety and accusations are the only response. So I pray, “God, what lie am I believing? And what’s the truth that replaces it?” This is a new habit I’m practicing. It’s uncomfortable and hard.

Yet in that quiet moment it seems my heart hears a reassuring whisper…

Life isn’t about being productive. It’s about being purposeful.

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I’ve often believed the lie that God’s first priority is what I can produce: a basket of neatly folded laundry, a dozen email responses, a to-do list with check marks. But the truth is there are things that matter just as much or more. Like feeding my granddaughter waffles while she giggles in her high chair, going for a walk with my husband on a blue-sky summer afternoon, brainstorming an idea that may never turn into anything.

Just because something doesn’t have tangible results doesn’t mean it doesn’t have eternal impact.

I’m no longer going to ask myself, “Have I been productive today?” Instead I’m going to ask, “Have I been purposeful?” To me that simply means living in love. Sometimes love looks like laundry and answering email and checking off what’s on my list. Those are good and worthy things. But often it looks like the exact opposite, like we’ve done “nothing” at all. And that’s okay too.

Our work doesn’t determine our worth. Our accomplishments don’t earn us God’s acceptance. Our value isn’t validated by our hustle. We are already and always loved. 

Whew. I needed to remember that today. You too? Now I’ve got some laundry to do…

XOXO
Holley

P.S. If you liked this post you might love You’re Already Amazing. Want a preview of the book? Here’s a free chapter.

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You’re invited to join the “Let’s Have Coffee” link up! Simply write a post that has the kind of encouragement you’d share with a friend over coffee and then add it here (the link up goes live at 5:30am CT every Wednesday). Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too. 

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

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I’ve been given a hard task—write down the lies/condemnation my heart hears and the truth that will set me free.

I approach this assignment on an ordinary weekday morning over a cup of coffee. I pull out my favorite journal and write Lies/Condemnation on one side and Truth on the other, and then I draw a black line right down the middle.

The first lie/condemnation comes easily, like a strong wind blowing through me…

I’m not good enough.

It’s my signature struggle, the phrase that echoes through my mind most often. When I’ve addressed it in the past I’ve tried a simple counter argument: I am good enough. This never seems to work. I can say the words but I don’t feel them in my guts and bones. They ring untrue.

On this particular morning I realize suddenly that’s because they are untrue. For me to be “good enough” by my own standards I would have to be perfect. I am not perfect. I never have been. I never will be on this side of eternity.

Shoot. I may need more coffee.

I decide to go digging around in the Word for what else I might write in the Truth column. I find this:

“When I tried to keep the law [[be good enough]], it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.” Galatians 2:19-21

Paul is writing these words to people who have been trying to be good enough, too. He is telling them what I’ve come to see: that I will never meet the impossible standard of perfection. His answer is not to pat them on the back and tell them they’re nice people anyway. No, his response really comes down to two words…

But Jesus.

It seems in that moment the table on which my coffee mug is sitting shakes, the earth tilts sideways, my old perspective shatters. This is the truth that overcomes every word of condemnation I hear inside my heart…

I’m not good enough. But Jesus.

I fall and fail and make mistakes. But Jesus.

I didn’t get everything right today. But Jesus.

What we need is not more “self-esteem”; it’s to fully understand that our hope and identity and security rest only in our Savior, in what He did for us on the cross and through His resurrection, in who He says we are as a new creation.

I fill the lies/condemnation column of my journal. Half the page is covered in black ink by the time I’m done. Yet when I finish there are still only two words on the Truth side: But Jesus.

I know I will go back to this place in my journal. Because as long as I am on this earth storms will come and the lies and condemnation will try to swirl through my mind like tiny tornadoes. Only truth can still them. As my friend and fellow writer Sharon Jaynes says in Enough: Silencing the Lies that Steal Your Confidence, “The enemy tries to get us to focus on our flaws rather than on our faith.”

Maybe your life could use a little more peace today too. What our hearts struggle with may be different but what rescues us is the same. We are the beloved and this is our hope, our anthem, our heart-shout that rises above the wind within…

But Jesus.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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Right now, we’re doing a special link-up series to celebrate Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. You’re a fiercehearted woman so I’m asking you to pour out a little love and courage with your words every Wednesday {the link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post, especially if it’s about living fully and loving bravely, and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!

{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}

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{my graphics are free goodies for you}

A friend of mine and I talked about hard times in our lives. We traded battle stories over salads, forks in our hands like weapons. We pondered how when things get tough in our lives the enemy seems to look for chances to do even more damage—to divide, bring discouragement, whisper lies.

Have you ever experienced this too?

In other words, the enemy of our heart is an opportunist. “He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pt. 5:8). We need to know this so we can be on guard, so we can fight for our own hearts and each other rather than against.

As my friend and I talked more we realized something else too, something that felt ancient and yet new. God is also an opportunist. “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28).

When things get tough in our lives, God looks for a chance to do even more good to and for us—to unite, bring hope, whisper truth. We need to know this so we can look for what He wants to offer our hearts, the treasures hidden in the darkness, the unexpected spoils of war.

As many of you know, my Mom recently had heart surgery. As I paced the halls of a hospital for three weeks it sometimes seemed I could feel the breath of the enemy on my neck, ready to devour. But, even more, I could sense the presence of Jesus, the Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5) walking with me, roaring for our family, giving us what we needed most in that hard place.

We are humans on a broken, spinning earth. We are warriors disguised in tennis shoes and yoga pants. We bleed and cry and drink bitter cups of hospital coffee. We are small and yet part of a bigger, wilder story than we can even imagine, one that’s been unfolding since the beginning of time.

Today the enemy of our hearts is working in our lives.

Today the God of all eternity is working in our lives.

I don’t think I have to tell you which one is going to win, which one has already won. That’s why we’ll celebrate Easter this weekend. Amen?

XOXO
Holley Gerth

P.S. This post is inspired by my devotional What Your Heart Needs for the Hard Days. If you need truths you can hold onto, this devotional is for you, friend.

P.P.S. Right now through midnight on March 31st, the ebook version of my newest book is on sale for $1.99! If you haven’t read Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely yet — or if you’d like to gift the ebook to a friend via Amazon — now would be a great time.

*****

Right now, we’re doing a special link-up series to celebrate Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. You’re a fiercehearted woman so I’m asking you to pour out a little love and courage with your words every Wednesday {the link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post, especially if it’s about living fully and loving bravely, and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!

{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}