You’ve been there. I know you have. Because I have, and I’m one of you: a person—a person in need of grace…lots and lots of grace. Yet, like you, I’ve battled with not being good enough, pretty enough, wealthy enough, intelligent enough, athletic enough, talented enough, or any other element of life that I haven’t seemed to have enough of.

We can find its roots in our comparative culture; we can blame it on our environment or our upbringing; we can cower to its ability to silence us due to the fear it so easily produces.

Or…

we can take a closer look at Who God really is and move past those movement-stopping excuses.

This afternoon I had to use one of my imaginary “phone-a-friend” tokens to call in some help! I started the conversation with, “I need you to talk me off the proverbial ledge. My mind is dwelling on all kinds of what-if and if-onlys, and I need to have you tell me to snap out of it!” I went on to tell this person that I had just logged off of Facebook for the next fourteen hours in order to have the victory over the evil ick, who was throwing people’s Facebook “likes” and comments into my view and mixing them with thoughts of my own lack in certain areas. Bless her heart, this person said, “Get your mind back on Christ. Remember Who He is!” And that was all I needed to hear.

Did you know that I nearly never started this blog? I wrote my first article and thought, “Who on earth is ever going to read anything I write? I’m not saintly like Elisabeth Eliott; I’m not a Bible scholar and author the caliber of Kay Arthur and Nancy Leigh DeMoss; I’m not a gifted speaker like Priscilla Shirer. I’m Brenda Strohbehn—a doofus whose greatest area of consistency involves how frequently I find myself coming before the Lord and saying, ‘I messed up again.’ Who am I to tell women how to love and serve God with all their hearts when I’m just certain they’ll see me in a moment of giving in to weakness and tell everyone I’m a big, fat phony?”

And then I realized that I had to write anyway, because if I felt “inferior” (a really stupid way to feel, by the way), then there must be hundreds of others struggling, getting up, struggling, getting up, struggling, and getting up yet one more time. (And it turns out that there are!) It hit me that maybe they need to know they aren’t alone, and that God’s grace is this incomparable gift that keeps us going forward, even when we compare our lack to another’s plenty. It was in that moment, at the point of that choice, that I learned how to write a faith-based blog post when my walk of faith felt so very, very weak.

Tell the Truth

Admit your faults. Do we need to know the details of your struggle or the depths of your sinful choices? No. Absolutely not. But don’t pretend they’re not there. We know they are. We have them too. Our faults might be in other areas, but we have them. Lots of them!

James 5:16 (NIV) is a well-known verse, and we often focus on the end of the verse, which tells us, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” This is true, amazing, and worthy of our notice. But so is the first part of the verse: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

The best way to overcome that sin and apply the grace given to do that is to acknowledge its presence in the first place.

Keep Your Focus

This past week I battled vertigo. I finally understood the expression regarding not knowing which way was up! My focus was fuzzy, and my steps were uncertain because of it. As my ability to focus without feeling woozy returned, my ability to walk with a steady gait returned as well.

Oh how clear this made it for me: when I take my focus off of Christ and my ultimate goal to write, to speak, to live for Him, my walk is weak. But when I can keep Him in my sight at all times, even when I stumble, I know where I’m eventually headed. When I’m sidetracked by comparisons, distractions, what-ifs, and if-onlys, my faith falters, and it grows weak. But it doesn’t have to remain in a weakened state! Jesus “initiates and perfects our faith!”

“Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith” (Hebrews 12:1–2, NLT).

Choose to Win

Was I truly going to jump off of an actual ledge today? No. But I felt my faith headed toward a cliff. The what-ifs and if-onlys were very present. They created imaginary scenarios of what others were thinking, doing, planning, etc. So rather than jumping off the ledge of truth in defeat, I chose to walk away from the location that the evil ick was using to foster these thoughts: I took a Facebook fast. I said, “No, Satan, you don’t get to win. I’m not weak for walking away. I’m courageous, wise, and a recipient of God’s grace. I’m strong enough to say no to you by simply walking away and choosing victory rather than accepting a defeated spirit.”

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7, NIV).

This isn’t a maybe. This is a “he will flee from you” promise!

Keep Moving Forward

I’m growing very weary of hearing how someone messed up in the past, of hearing what that sin was, and of even feeling myself that the sins of yesterday rob tomorrow of its hope. Hogwash! It’s called grace. It brings healing. It extends forgiveness. It allows for fresh starts. It provides “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” And it’s sufficient, enough, no, more than enough! It’s undeserved yet freely delivered. It’s unearned yet paid out repeatedly. It grants the ability to get up after a fall, refocus, and keep moving forward with determination and purpose, acknowledging the fall but not giving into it. It’s grace. And it truly is amazing.

So know this: I’m going to mess up more times than I’ll care to admit. I’m going to come to the proverbial ledge many, many times. I’m going to choose selfishly, compare foolishly, and listen attentively to the twisting of truth as Satan whispers his what-ifs and if-onlys into my ear. But I’m going to choose to win by being truthful about my struggles, walking away from people, areas, and things that weaken my faith, and then moving forward.

And I’m going to keep writing about it so that you can move forward with me.