I believe the girls that we are pouring into are fighting the same battle that we all have been fighting for years and years. We fall into the trap of believing the lies the devil says about us. We start to question everything because of those lies. That’s how he got Eve wasn’t it? By asking her, did God really say? We start to question who we are, where we are, what we are called to do, and sometimes even God.
The questions start to flood our minds, just like they flood our girls’ minds, and it feels like we can’t control them. What if I’m not pretty enough? What if I’m not smart enough? What if I’m not fit enough? What if I’m not curvy enough? What if I’m not strong enough? What if I’m not good enough? What if people don’t like me enough? What if I’m just not enough?
These lies that we start to believe don’t only influence our self-image, but the lies we believe start to impact the relationships with those around us and even our relationship with God. We start to think that God has the wrong girl for the calling He has placed on our lives. We start to doubt that God will really show up for us because we see how He has delivered for people around us but not for what we have been praying about. We start putting ourselves into this rabbit hole of comparison. Comparing their blessings, family, life that we see on social media to ours. The deeper we dig and the more we listen to the devil’s lies, we make our minds up that we are NOT enough. We feel like we don’t measure up to those around us. Then, worst of all, the devil starts to try to convince us that we don’t measure up to the plan God has for our lives or even a relationship with God. This can’t be farther from the truth!
It is easier from the outside looking in, to just say “it is all lies, don’t believe them.” Well, I can tell you right now that I still struggle with the lies of being enough. Am I good enough student? Am I good enough nurse? Am I good enough wife? Am I good enough daughter? Am I good enough sister? Am I a good enough puppy mom? Am I smart enough? Am I pretty enough? Am I skinny enough? Am I curvy enough? Am I presenting myself well enough? All of these questions start with “Am I.” I believe that is where the devil gets us. Satan wants us so focused on ourselves that we forget to think about God.
The next time one of us or one of our girls has the “Am I” questions that consume her, I want us to stop and flip the question. Remember the Great I AM. Remember God. We serve a God who does not need us to be enough. Satan is in the business of poking holes in who we are. God is in the business of filling us up. God’s grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). God is sufficient. We do not have to be enough. God is enough. He has crafted us for the calling He has placed on our lives. Let’s promise ourselves and our girls, the next time Satan tries to have a whirlwind of “Am I enough” questions clouding our heads, we will remember the Great I AM that we serve.
When we call our girls to look to God, we are teaching them the first step in poking holes in the devil’s lies. We are teaching them to discern God’s truth. The easiest way to spot a lie is to know the truth. We must encourage our girls to stay in God’s Word. We need to encourage them to prioritize their time in God’s Word. We are equipping them to be ready to discern words of truth and words of lies.
Next, we need to encourage our girls to pray for discernment. We teach our girls to pray to ask God to guide them and to teach them to know His Word. Then, we pray over our girls. We pray that they will never believe the devil’s lies, they will abide in God, and we pray a hedge of protection around them. The devil will start to shake in anger as we teach our girls the true power of prayer.
Lastly, we remind our girls another way to spot a lie is to examine it. My mom used to tell me, if someone says something mean or hurtful to me to catch it. How do I catch it? We act like the mean or hurtful words they said was a baseball being thrown at me. I need to quickly catch it so it won’t hurt me. I catch it and then look at it. I examine their words for any truth. If there is no truth, then I toss it away from me. If it is true, then I ask myself how can I be better? How can I be more like Christ? This principle applies to us right now. The next time Satan whispers lies to us or our girls, I want us to write them down. Examine the lies. Compare the lies to the truth of God’s Word. Are they really true? Guard your heart from the lies of the devil.
I can promise that the devil won’t make it easy. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). I want us to be careful and intentional when we spend time with our girls, especially in the craziness of this past year. So many times, we read that verse like the devil has come to kill and destroy. When we are delivered out of season of darkness, we are so happy that we survived, but that wasn’t the intent. The trial or the circumstance that we were just in wasn’t meant to kill or destroy us, it was meant to steal. The devil comes to steal our faith, our praise, our hope, our self-worth, our prayer time, our devotional time. The devil uses different tactics and I want us to make sure that just because our girls survived the lie or the trial of believing what Satan was whispering in their ear, that he didn’t end up stealing from them. I don’t want the devil to steal their praise, their faith, their trust, their love, or their self-worth.
How do we this? We must keep them rooted in God’s Word. We must teach them the enemy’s tactics. We must prepare them with the power of prayer. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but we will be ready. Our girls will be ready.
Let’s remind ourselves and our girls that we are enough, we have enough, we do enough, we see enough, we ARE enough. God has made us enough.
Jillian Deaton has a passion for showing people the love of Christ through speaking, writing, and everyday life. She is the wife to second lieutenant Jaxson Deaton. Jillian is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University. She is the author of Powerfully Weak, This is Why, The Four Seasons of Hope, as well as the co-author of A Bigger Purpose. She is passionate about sharing God’s Word with students and women of all ages! She believes no matter who you are or where you’ve been the Word of God is relevant to your life as you strive to live with authentic faith in Christ. Connect with Jillian: Instagram