To those who stripped me of what I loved, thank you. The most valuable lesson I learned is that I am who He says I am.”
by Vionette LeGrand
I remember being in a previous job and told that I would need to practice and do better because others were outperforming me. As I sat in the one-on-one meeting with that person. I nodded my head yes, and walked away quietly. As I walked away from that meeting, many emotions surfaced. The biggest one was NOT being ENOUGH.
Later that year, I would find myself being stripped from the things that I loved to do. In that meeting, that person was clear. I wasn’t good enough. Even though the person never said I wasn’t good enough verbally. The actions of stripping things away from me made it clear that I wasn’t enough.
I struggled for a year to see the things I loved to do in that job disappear. I was quiet and suffered in silence for that year. I was saddened by what was happening. Little did I know that God had something special for me in that suffering, and that would be me finding my NEW identity in who I was.
That year as I was being stripped away from everything, the seed of potential that lay dormant would grow unexplainably. I leaned more into God’s word and what He said about me. Not what others saw in me. I learned to understand God’s perspective of who He thought I was and not who others thought I was. In 1st Samuel 16:6-7 it says:
“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord. “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”[1]
God taught me that year that even though others around me couldn’t see the potential in me, He saw it. I learned that I was enough not because of who I was but because of who He was in me. As humans, many of us can’t see the potential in someone because we live by sight, just like Samuel did. God had to remind Samuel that he didn’t look at the appearance but the heart. Can you IMAGINE? Samuel was a man of God. He was well known for the presence of God within him, but even he missed the fact that God looked at the heart and not the appearance.
If you have ever felt like you were not enough because of what other people have said about you. Maybe even lies that you have said about yourself. I want to tell you that you are enough. You are enough because God is enough. The world we live in doesn’t see a plant that has potential but only sees a plant that is blooming. In your time, you will bloom, but for now, enjoy knowing that you have a seed of potential, and God sees that. No one else needs to see. If God can see it, that is all that matters. In time you will bloom, and you will be that flower that sticks out more radiant and beautiful than ever before. If you are the flower that finds yourself blooming in this season. Do not take it for granted. I want to encourage you to learn to see the potential in others.
Even though that year was a hard year for me. I am thankful that God turns everything around for good. I have come to learn in life to respect peoples’ opinions of me but not let them consume me. The only opinion that matters should be who God says I am.
Say this with me:
“To those that didn’t think I was good enough, thank you. Because of you, I learned that I am enough. I have learned that my identity is not in what I do but in who I am. I have learned that if I am not good at something the first time, it doesn’t mean I will never be good at it. I learned to cry but never give up. I have learned that I am not who others say I am. I have learned that I can think for myself. I have learned that God speaks to me.
To those who stripped me of what I loved, thank you. The most valuable lesson I learned is that I am who He says I am.”
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[1] 1st Samuel 16:6-7