Am I Good Enough

One of the most difficult things in life to deal with is rejection.   It is a feeling that you go through when you are told that you are not good enough; don’t have the skills necessary for the position; lack the talent to get it done; lack the experience or education; you don’t fit in; you can’t make the cut; it’s not your time or intended for you.    

It’s the feeling that you feel when you are being denied the opportunity to demonstrate that you can do the job, you have the right skills, abilities to get things done, that you matter or that you are equally prepared to handle the task at hand.  

It is amazing that no matter what you do or say and how you present yourself, you still may be rejected by others.  People reject other people all the time, it could because of looks, experience, lack of interest, race, age, culture, because they are so mean or have another person in mind all the time.  And many times the opinions of others are all wrong.   

Sometimes God has to allow us to go through things and experience rejection first hand in order for us to have a better sense of what others are going through.  The emotions at times are very “raw” and “surreal” as we attempt to come to terms with what it all means.  In so many ways as we journey through dealing with rejection on so many levels, it becomes a part of who we are and what we understand about the world in which we live in.   

Rejection is nothing new; it is as old as history and will stretch way into eternity.  Jesus suffered rejection during His earthly life, on the cross and even today.   Men and women turn their backs, faith and trust in the Lord.  Sometimes when I think about what my parents and fore parents when through in this American experience to make things work out towards a brighter future, then I am enough, for I know that God is always with me and He makes me good enough.  

Uncommon Ashes

Turning Our Moments Into Strength For Life

We all go through so much as we live our lives in the moments of every day life.  A day does not go by in which we have to reflect upon what it all means when our experiences turn from wines of joy, to sadness, pain, sorrow and even silence.    

What do we do and what do we learn as we journey through these emotional mountain top and valley experiences?  How do we pace ourselves in when we are thriving?  How do we endure and overcome when we are faced with inefficiency and going through tremendous emotional loses and pain.   

Perhaps it is the lessons of Job that stand out... he had it all and was blessed by God to be found worthy to amass some much.  He had a family, herds, homes, lands... But the remarkable thing about Job is that he had faith in God. 

It not just what Job did during his life of abundance, when things were going well; but rather what he did when things began to turn from good to bad.   As the biblical story goes, in a short span, God allows Satan to test Job and soon word came from various servants that his children and herds had been destroyed and wiped out and that they alone survived and returned to deliver him the news.  It even gets worst when Satan attaches his health, with “painful boils from the soles of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2: 7).

You know a lot of people cannot take a lot of bad news nor endure through such turns of events.  But Job provides a pathway or a coping skill that I believe works even today.   Job 2:8 (NKJV) states “and he took for himself a potsherd (a broken piece of ceramic material) with which he scrape (shave) himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.” For Job to sit in the midst of ashes is yet the most powerful symbol. For  it represents “mourning, mortality, and a time for penance.” As Job was going through this season in his life, his wife asked him, “do you still hold fast your integrity?”  Curse God and die!”  His response to her is also quite remarkable “you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”  In all this Job did not sin with his lips (vs 10).      

Of course this is what Job did during his time, but what about today?  How do we respond to “our adversity?”  Do we grow uneasy with the situation, tired of being let down, limits on our emotions, ongoing health challenges, looking for meaningful employment, weary of trying to find a way out or perhaps you just want to throw in the towel.  There are a number of emotional options that best describe what you are going through, and the pain that comes along with it.  But how do you find a way to deal with what is happening in your life that also helps us to place our faith and trust in God.  A God who loves us in spite of ourselves; who never fails and is always waiting to hear from us... then we will learn that our best days are always in front of us and not behind us and that this too, shall pass. 

When we sit down in the ashes of our situations and allow ourselves to feel the raw emotions of internal brokenness, failure, fears, and tears; then we begin to understand that the God of our ashes is also the God of our faith.  He will not allow us to go through stuff without a plan for the other side of the situation, or when the storm is over.  His goal and plans for us is to not hurt us, but to inspire us to reach out true potential in the light of His Glory and strength.  And through the life of Job as his life story unfolds, we see that God restored unto Job all that he lost.  The ashes that you are sitting in today are uncommon for it is your story and not Jobs and that in itself is something to share.