The Myth of Having It All Together
Exhausted from trying to appear perfect at work, home, church, and online? In this episode, discover why God's power shows up best in your weakness, and why you don't have to pretend to be strong when you're not.
Exhausted from trying to appear perfect at work, home, church, and online? In this episode, discover why God's power shows up best in your weakness, and why you don't have to pretend to be strong when you're not.
Have you ever felt like you're one bad day away from everyone finding out you don't actually have it all together?
The pressure to appear perfect is relentless. At work, you hide your struggles. At home, you hold everything together even when you're falling apart inside. At church, you smile and say "I'm fine" when you're anything but. Online, you post the highlight reel and bury the mess. It's exhausting, and it's a myth. Nobody has it all together. Not the pastor. Not the influencer. Not the leader everyone admires. Behind every polished exterior is a person who struggles, doubts, fails, and needs grace just like you.
In this episode, we look at Lysa TerKeurst, president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, whose life looked like the picture of Christian success, until everything unraveled publicly through her husband's infidelity and a painful divorce. Instead of hiding, she wrote and spoke honestly about the devastation, the grief, and the days she didn't know how to keep going. Her honesty gave countless others permission to stop pretending too.
Through her story and 2 Corinthians 12:9–10, you'll see that God doesn't wait for you to be whole before He uses you. His power works best in weakness. When you stop pretending and let Him meet you in your broken places, that's when His strength shines through.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
- Why the pressure to appear perfect is both exhausting and spiritually damaging
- How Paul's "thorn in the flesh" reveals God's surprising response to our weakness
- What it looks like to stop performing and let God's power show up in your honest, imperfect life
You don't have to fake strength to be loved by God or used by Him. When you are weak, that's exactly when He is strong.
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click on the button and then click on the button and
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click on the button. She seemed to have it all: bestselling
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books, a thriving organization, a strong marriage, and a
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beautiful family. Lisa Turkhurst is the president of Proverbs 31
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Ministries and has encouraged millions of women through her
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writing and speaking. From the outside, her life looked like
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the picture of Christian success. Then everything unraveled in the
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most public way possible: her husband's infidelity, a painful
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divorce, and the humiliation of having her private heartbreak
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becoming headline news. The image of having it all together
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shattered in front of the very audience she had been leading.
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In that kind of exposure, why wouldn't someone just withdraw,
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hide, and try to protect what was left of their reputation?
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Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Lager, and
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today we're talking about one of the most exhausting lies many of
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us believe. that we have to appear perfect to be acceptable.
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2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 says, "Each time he said, 'My grace is
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all you need, my power works best in weakness.' So now I am
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glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of
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Christ can work through me. And that's why I take pleasure in
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all the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that
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I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Paul
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had been asking God to remove something painful from his life,
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what he called a thorn in the flesh. Three times he begged the
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Lord to take it away. And three times God said no. So the reason
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God gave is stunning. "My grace is all you need. My power works
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best in weakness." Now that's counterintuitive. We spend so
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much energy trying to hide our weaknesses and cover our
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struggles, and we tend to curate an image that says, "I've got
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this," but God says his power actually shows up best when we
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don't have it all together. Think about the pressure you
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feel to look strong in front of everybody else. At work, you
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don't want anyone to know you're struggling. At home, you try to
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hold everything together, even when you're falling apart. At
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church, you smile and say, "I'm fine," because you don't want to
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appear unspiritual. Online, you post the highlight reel, and you
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hide the mess. It's exhausting, and it's a myth. Nobody has it
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all together. Not the pastor. Not the influencer. Not the mom
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who looks like she's nailing it. Not the leader everyone admires.
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Behind every polished exterior is a person who struggles, has
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fails, and needs grace just like you do. The difference isn't
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that some people have fewer weaknesses. The difference is
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that some people have learned to stop pretending. They've
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discovered that when they're honest about their weaknesses,
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God's power has room to work. That's what Paul learned.
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Instead of being ashamed of his weakness, he started boasting in
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it. Not because weakness is fun, but because weakness makes space
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for Christ's power to shine through. When you're strong in
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yourself, you don't need God as much. Or at least you don't
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think so. But when you're weak, you lean on him, and that's when
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his strength becomes visible in your life. of pretending
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everything was fine. "Lisa wrote and spoke honestly about the
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devastation, the grief, the confusion." "The day she didn't
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know how to keep going." "God didn't wait for Lisa to be whole
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before he used her. her broken places, and her honesty gave
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countless others permission to stop pretending too. "When
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you're weak, that's exactly when his power can shine through."
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Maybe you're exhausted from pretending.
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you, the failing you, they'd walk away. Can I let you in on a
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little secret? God already knows, and He loves you anyway. His
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grace is enough for you. His power works best in your
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weakness. You don't have to have it all together. You just have
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to be honest and let Him meet you where you are. Here's
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today's challenge. Think about one area of your life where
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you've been pretending to be stronger than you are. Maybe
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it's at work, at home, at church, or online. Instead of continuing
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to perform, take one small step toward honesty today. That might
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mean confiding in a trusted friend. It might mean admitting
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to your spouse that you're not okay. It might mean praying,
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"Lord, I'm tired of pretending. I need your strength because
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mine is gone." Let your weakness become an invitation for God's
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power to show up. Lord, we're tired of pretending. We've been
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trying so hard to look like we have it all together, and it's
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exhausting. Thank you that your power works best in our weakness.
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Help us to stop performing and start being honest with you,
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with ourselves, and with the people around us. Meet us in our
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broken places. Let your strength shine through our weakness, in
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Jesus' name. Amen. If you're walking through a season of
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feeling weak and weary, and you need prayer, I'd love to lift
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you up. Leave me a voicemail at
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dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemail , and I'll pray for you by name.
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Thanks for joining me today on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives.
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Remember, God's power shows up best in your weakness, and you
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don't have to pretend to be strong when you're not. Come
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back next time for more encouragement to help you live
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grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless, and have a
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great day.
