You are ENOUGH.

Happy Friday loves!!!! I hope all of you had a wonderful week. Any fun exciting plans for this weekend? My weekend will consist of working on some exciting new ideas and events for EVE, so stay tuned to see it all unfold (yay! I'm so excited).

I have to be honest, I didn't think I had it in me to start Even Vanity Ends. I constantly questioned why this vision was given to me. Out of all people, why me? I didn't feel like I was qualified or good enough to bring this vision to life. Have you ever felt inadequate? Like you're just not good enough? This was definitely a struggle for me and I just wanted to share my experience with you, in hopes that it would inspire you to realize that YOU ARE ENOUGH!

When I graduated high school my parents gave me the option to either go to college or apply for The Gas Company. Well, I really never spent time thinking about what college I wanted to go to or what I wanted to major in so I opted for the Gas Company. At the age of 18 I was making pretty good money and I definitely took pride in that. I worked there for 7 years and last May I was laid off (I never saw that coming). It was a pretty hard blow to my ego. When I lost my job I felt like I was stripped of my identity. Without my job I felt inadequate, unqualified and just not good enough. Even while I was looking for a job I would feel so discouraged reading all of the qualifications that I didn't meet.

When you first meet someone one of the most common questions they ask you is "So, what do you do?". Well for 7 years I never had a problem flaunting the fact that I worked for a great company and made great money, but after I lost my job I started to dread those conversations. While I was going through this transition my husband and I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Australia for a Missions Trip Tour. It was absolutely beautiful but of course traveling to another country entails meeting lots of new people that want to know about you. I was literally praying that no one would ask me what I did for a living because frankly I wasn't sure how to answer that question. Well, of course every single person I met asked me that exact question and every single time I would try to come up with something clever to make it seem like I didn't live a boring life. It wasn't until one of the last days in Australia when I met a young man and he asked me "So, Mel what do you do?" I paused and in that moment God reminded me that my identity didn't come from my job title or what company I worked for, my identity is and always was rooted in God. I was suddenly filled with confidence as I proudly said "I'm a stay at home wife!" and he responded "Wow! That's so awesome, stay at home wives don't get enough credit." It's crazy how this whole time in Australia I was trying to impress people with who I wasn't, when all along all I had to do was be myself and be confident in that.

Are you feeling inadequate, unqualified, and not good enough? Maybe it's your job or your current circumstance, maybe you feel like you're not pretty enough or smart enough? Whatever it is know that YOU ALONE ARE ENOUGH!!! You're identity does not lie in the mistakes you've made, your job titles or your physical appearance, your identity lies in GOD. Just be yourself and allow people to see the real, imperfect, flawed, quirky, weird, BEAUTIFUL person that you are!

If you truly believe that you are enough I challenge you to take this promise to yourself and own who you are:

"Today, I declare and believe that I am enough. I am loving, smart, brave, patient, beautiful and funny enough. I will make mistakes but I will learn and grow from them. I believe in myself and my dreams. I am proud of who God created me to be and I own it. Even when the world says I am not, I constantly remind myself that I am. I am worthy, I am loved and I am so enough."

Have a beautiful day loves!!!

XO- Mel