And there, in my inadequacy, with my head down, ashamed and a mess yet again… there, love came down. It didn’t storm my house or my heart or give me tongues of fire through which to speak. Rather, this love gently crept in a little at a time. When my defenses were down and tiny cracks allowed this nectar of life to enter me, love became enough. Love made me enough. And because God is love, God made me enough. There are countless ways to lose ourselves and our intentions. And the odds of rediscovering them on our own are slim to none. We’ll never try hard enough, pray hard enough or “sober up” enough to make lasting change. It is only in this love that is enough to heal all wounds, bind all broken hearts and banish all our addictions that we find life…that we find hope. And so, while we can’t love enough to resurrect our own purity and innocence, we can celebrate that He is love enough to conquer death, bring us life and save us from ourselves. God is enough. God is love. Love is enough. And today and everyday there is love enough for me… and love enough for you. There are few emotions or states-of-being as stressful, lonely and painful as inadequacy. Yet from the time we’re born, our lives…our very souls seem to be measured, weighed and compared until we are terrified that one day, we’ll come up short. One day, we won’t be enough… And then…life happens and we learn—we never were enough. As human beings in a broken world, there is nothing within us intrinsically that is enough to overcome our addictions, afflictions and pain. We are not enough. The truth is, if we were, God would be irrelevant and the cross unnecessary. Is that a flaw? A hiccup in our genetic makeup? Is inadequacy simply the state we poor, weak humans must accept? Not entirely. Inadequacy, much like sorrow, pride, anger and jealousy are consequences. They are the results of the fall that will inevitably permeate our earthly world until Christ returns. So…given that a consequence is a result, it can’t also be true that it’s intrinsic. In other words, consequences, like inadequacy, are not part of God’s design for His children. And when we choose to follow Him, to invite Christ into our hearts and lives and begin a walk in faith with Him, inadequacy dissipates. In God’s eyes, He now sees us through and under the blood of Christ—no inadequacy there. Now, it’s also true that most of our human emotions aren’t going to just go away as soon as we accept Christ in our hearts. I came to Christ when I was seven years old, but for years, I have been a slave to the pursuit of perfection and the maintenance of an image that I deemed appropriate or “good.” For years, I have fallen short, often becoming depressed and embarrassed, running to something to medicate the pain. When I saw how painfully far away I was from ever being enough for this world, I spiraled into a place where I wouldn’t have to feel anything. And there, in the midst of addiction, eating disorders, inappropriate relationships… I began to see what God has known all along— inadequacy is my earthly condition. And I will never be whole apart from Him... apart from Christ. love enough In weakness anD sHame, tHere Is lOve enOugH fOr lIfe : christ, life, faith By cAROlINE luSK 14 CCM