The Devil knows exactly how to plant seeds of doubt and insecurity in our minds, doesn’t he? For instance, one morning this week, I took Landon to toddler time at the library. The little room was extra crowded with toddlers and Mamas, sitting both in chairs along the walls and indian-style on the floor. Right before the sweet lady who leads the half-hour came into the room, Landon, who had been sitting at my feet beside the diaper bag stood up and tried to take a step. His foot had accidentally got tangled up with the diaper bag strap and when he tried to take a step, he face planted and busted his lip. I scooped him up, he was screaming, blood was pouring out of his little mouth, and soon enough, blood was all over my tshirt and his little overalls. All the other Mamas looked at me, some in horror, some with pity, and I ran to the bathroom to clean him up. We went back in when I had him cleaned up and the bleeding had stopped, but by that time, he was getting sleepy and just wanted me to hold him, so there were more tears and he wasn’t very interested in the Halloween themed activities of the day. The lady from the library had planned a cute, low-level involvement craft for the kiddos to do – a silly looking monster with googly-eyes on a popsicle stick.

Did I make the craft with Landon? No. He’s 17 months old. He would just try to eat it. He doesn’t need a paper monster on a stick. But as I was sitting there, bouncing him on my knee with blood all over both of us, I noticed a Mama in the corner with two small children, maybe ages two and three AND a tiny baby who couldn’t have been more than six weeks old snuggled in a car seat carrier. This Mama… superMama… was not only wearing JEANS and a sweater (in contrast to my running shorts *that have never been ran in* and tshirt and ball cap) but lo and behold… she was in the floor with her two toddlers, making googly-eyed monsters on sticks. Ugh!

And that’s when the Devil’s lies creep in. You can’t even handle one child and look at her handling three! Look at her, all put together and not one of her kids is bleeding or crying… and you can’t even take one child to the library without blood or tears?  

I honestly wanted to run out of the library crying. But, instead, I just hugged my boy tighter and spoke truth over myself. The Devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. We already know Who has won the battle, so we have to choose everyday to live like we know. We have to choose to live like we’re His. We have to pray for discernment when the Enemy’s lies creep into our minds and we have to cling to our Father’s promises for a hope, a future, and know that He will never leave us or forsake us.

Sometimes, kids are scared of the monster under the bed, but if the truth was known, I think a lot more of us “adults” are living in fear because of the lies we are allowing ourselves to believe. Fill your heart and your mind today with truth. Go ahead and tell Satan that he doesn’t need to feed you thoughts that you aren’t enough, because the truth is… we aren’t enough. But Jesus is. His grace is sufficient for you, it’s sufficient for me, and it’s more powerful than all the googly-eyed monsters of inadequacy that might be hiding under your bed or in your heart.