I wrote in my journal this morning,
Jesus I feel so defeated today. I feel hopeless. I feel like I’ve lost before I even started. I don’t feel like I can do anything. I feel like everything is too much, too overwhelming, too hard. I am not good enough.
Ellie Holcomb, one of my favorite artists of all time, opened her concert last week by saying,
Hey y’all, I’m Ellie Holcomb, and I am a recovering perfectionist.
Isn’t she just beautifully honest? And isn’t that just so delicately true about all of us? At least I know it is true for me. But as I was writing I stopped and began to sing these two songs:
I Need You by Matt Maher & Walk With Me by Jesus Culture
And then my heart was reminded:
LORD, THIS is my problem. I try to do it alone. I try to be what I am not: independent! My pride gets in the way Elohim*!! I am so sorry. Christmas is about how the world that was so fatally ill needed a savior, REQUIRED A SAVIOR!! So You, El Oseh Phela**, sweet, merciful, and Holy God, you blessed this world with one.
Jesus came. He left Heaven, so magnificent and so perfect, and entered this world. He joined us in the mess – in the wanna-be-holiness. He met us in our too-full-for-others-lives in a barely manageable manger. The Angels rejoiced and the Kings declared that Emmanuel had come. God was, and is, with us!
So my Jesus, who doesn’t expect perfection, let my imperfections bless You. Thank you for coming and for saving us! May my successes honor You. And may all I do Glorify the Greatest Gift of All, You.
– Sarah
*Elohim, meaning God, Prominent One
**El Oseh Phela – meaning God Who Works Wonders
I Would Say That 
Reblogged this on A Living Contradiction.