On Knowing You’re Amazing {Ellen's Picks Linkup}

A couple months ago, I sent copies of “You’re Already Amazing LifeGrowth Guide” to our community of truly phenomenal women. It might seem like a strange pick (these women already have it all together, right?) but it doesn’t matter how long I’ve been in ministry or leadership or life, for that matter, but I still sometimes wonder if my gifts, talents, and offerings are enough. I also wonder if my personality and the way I’m wired is just too much. It’s hard to see how amazing we are when we’re surrounded by people who seem just a bit more thin/smart/talented/beautiful/capable/insert-other-amazing-quality-here.Honestly, though, when I look at my friends, I see how amazing they are, and have a hard time understanding why they’d ever think they’re not.I stand in awe of these women around me who juggle so many things, who make courageous choices, who face fears, who take risks, who sometimes just put one foot in front of the other in faith that everything will work out. I see that they’re incredible, but if you asked any one of them, they’d all likely say that they’re lucky to have slid in under the bar of critical self-measurement. They often say they’re not pretty or smart enough, that their families aren’t perfect enough, their houses aren’t clean enough, that they don’t have much to offer, that answers are just too far out of reach and that others have got it far more together than they do. I don’t think one of them would self-identify as amazing. (Putting on the mantle of Amazing feels a bit strange, doesn’t it?)Mercy. We’re hard on ourselves, aren’t we?And this rejection of amazing? It hobbles us, friends.These are the things I want my daughter to know. I want her to know that she has been intentionally, fearfully, and wonderfully made with unique passion, personality, and gifts, for a great purpose. I want her to identify her gifts not so that she can be puffed up, but so that she can pour out and be filled. I want her to frame the central themes of her life so that she can choose where to step in, and step up to be where God is calling her. I want the precious daughter of my heart to know that she should not be limited by gender or situation, because she is, a simply miraculous creation of the Divine. I want her to know that without doing one thing, she is already amazing. My daughter is fortunate to have Auntie Holley in her life, already cheering her on, and other beautiful women who lead to look up to.Isn’t that enough?Not really, is it? She needs to know, deep down, personally, how she’s wired in an amazing, unique way. I’m praying that when she’s ready, she’ll walk through a grace-filled tool like the LifeGrowth Guide that won’t tell her what she has to be, but help point her to the God who made her amazing. I think that there is a lie in our culture that says too much introspection is dangerous. I’d say that just enough right self-assessment makes us dangerously good. Doing good right where we are, and also knowing where we’re going.Let’s be dangerously good, amazing women.[inlinkz_linkup id=637395 mode=1]