A hurricane of harsh words flung from my lips one morning.
Another bout with sin. Another let down.
In the aftermath, guilty frustration rushed through my veins; my heart felt tired and heavy.
One glimpse at my reflection in the mirror and my face crumples into a cry.
Broken, weak, and flawed, I stand there asking.
In the multitude of my mistakes, can fragments of beauty be found after all?
As I hugged my mom and asked forgiveness for the disrespectful words I spewed that day, She helped me to realize something.
The enemy wanted me to feel trapped and terrible about how I acted – to make me believe I was more broken than the next person. She refuted that lie and told me I wasn’t worse than anyone else (Romans 3:23).
She also shared the truth that there are always fresh starts in Christ.
When You’re Defeated and Struggling
Perfectionism has infected my life for years. It is a tyrannical plague, whispering day in and day out:
“Be perfect and don’t slip.”
Most perfectionists resonate with the dizzy death spiral of trying, then failing, to achieve impossible standards.
Expecting mistakes to come isn’t what brings discouragement. It’s only when flaws set in motion one after the other that we become exhausted, defeated, and stuck.
Satan comes to condemn us. Weighing the atmosphere of our soul with gloom, he mocks, “Just look how terrible you are.”
We’re left singed by this fiery dart, wondering:
Why does failure drain me so dry of hope? What should I do when I’ve disappointed those around me, when sin grips both hands with steel chains?
Every human being has undoubtedly wrestled with these feelings.
Recently, I was blessed by the transparent honesty of Katie Davis Majors as she shares about brokenness in her latest book, Daring to Hope:
“…I realize more and more how conditioned I have been to be ashamed of my weakness. Somehow it is okay to attend to the brokenness in the lives of others, but to admit brokenness in our own homes, even in our own hearts? We have been told that this is downright embarrassing. What we know to be true, though, as we dig into scripture, is that God is not ashamed of our weakness….This place we are trained to run from—vulnerability—it is so precious and beautiful to Him…And my need for Jesus is beautiful to Him; it is what He wants.”
The Unlikely Secret
“God doesn’t need your strength; He has more than enough of His own.He asks for your weakness.”
-Charles Spurgeon
Contrary to the lofty goals dreamed up in a perfectionist’s brain, failing isn’t the worst thing—genuine failure happens whenever we neglect to seek God’s forgiveness, giving Him our every weakness those times we do fall short.
I realize this is overwhelming. It isn’t easy to wear defeat when we struggle so hard to do things the right way. It’s frustrating when that time and energy is seemingly wasted—again and again.
That brings us to a question: why is it necessary for perfectionists to own their inadequacy?
It is crucial and necessary to admit our inadequacy if our flaws are to be properly handled because when a person can do nothing but cry to Jesus for help, it proves the very best place—a place where fresh healing can splash over the joy-deprived ground of our souls, restoring all the weariness with His strength.
When we realize this secret, we’ll be free.
“My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” -Psalm 73:26
Hope for Future Flaws
In short, if you’re a perfectionist, please learn from my mistakes. I’ve struggled with it for so many years and don’t want either of us to stay there. That is my heart behind this article. I want to encourage each perfectionist who reads this that there is hope!
Let’s do something, together. From today on…
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We won’t be ashamed of or overwhelmed by our weaknesses.
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We won’t beat ourselves up.
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We won’t pressure ourselves to maintain unhealthy, unachievable standards by imposing perfection on our imperfect selves.
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We will handle each flaw that arises by giving it to God
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We will start finding our perfection in Him alone.
What secrets have you discovered to handle perfectionism? Let’s talk about them in the comments below!
Share Your Thoughts in the Comment Section!
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Moriah, this piece is outstanding! I am such a perfectionist. I love how you said “Contrary to the lofty goals dreamed up in a perfectionist’s brain, failing isn’t the worst thing—genuine failure happens whenever we neglect to seek God’s forgiveness, giving Him our every weakness those times we do fall short.”
This is really made me stop and think The only time we truly fail is when we neglect God. So profound and a truth we all need to hear.
Thank you for sharing!
I think there’s a fine line between saying “weakness is good,” and “sin is good.”
I don’t mean that anyone suggested otherwise, but a thought came to me, that God desires our vulnerability in weakness because that’s where His power is made perfect and His grace is proven sufficient. But of coarse He doesn’t want us to go on sinning so that grace (or the proof thereof) may increase. By no means!
Rather than meeting Satan’s, “Just look how terrible you are,” with the counterattack “I’m not terrible; God wants to use this weakness,” I want to counter it with, “but I have a redeeming God full of mind-boggling grace.”
That’s not to say it’s false that I’m not terrible and God wants to use my weakness. It’s just that the latter encourages my heart to fix my eyes on His goodness more. How good is the God we serve! <3
I actually struggle seriously with verbal abuse and shouting at my family and this, I’m afraid, has shackled me too. 🙁 That being said, this was a good article!
Thank-you for this beautiful article!
This was such a refreshing piece for me to read.
Naomi
Moriah, thank you for the encouragement! I struggle with this often. This verse helps me when I am needing encouragement;
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
Thank you, Faye!! <3 I am so glad you could relate as a fellow perfectionist–it is so hard at times! I took a peek at your blog. It is so refreshing. Excited to be a new follower! 😉
Great article, Moriah! I’m very encouraged by this.
Aww, that’s hard. So glad it was encouraging, Joye! Thank you for reading. <3
You are very welcome, Naomi! Thank you! 🙂
Thank you for your kind words, Katelyn! And, yes! That verse is so encouraging. I wish I had included it now. <3
Excellent point, Jordy!! And you’re right, just to clarify (if I did not illustrate it well enough in my article) I was not in any way meaning to cross the line between “weakness is good” and “sin is good.” Continually sinning so that “grace may abound” is quite contrary to the Bible, like you said.
It’s just that I think for most perfectionists–me in particular–I can end up feeling so defeated that it paralyzes me.
That’s why I wrote this part: “Contrary to the lofty goals dreamed up in a perfectionist’s brain, failing isn’t the worst thing—genuine failure happens whenever we neglect to seek God’s forgiveness, giving Him our every weakness those times we do fall short.”
Crying out to Him for forgiveness is essential to moving forward. I don’t condone a lifestyle of living in sin or not attempting to resist temptations.
Love what you said about fixing your eyes on His goodness when the enemy attacks. <3
Aw, thanks for following!
You are welcome! <3 The pictures are so beautiful on your most recent post. Did you take them? You're my 75th blog follower, btw. Thank you! 😀
Congrats on 75 followers! Yes, I took the photos. In fact, the one is technically a selfie. Lol! Thank you for your encouragement!
Photography is so much fun! <3 It's my favorite thing to do other than writing.
Thanks for this reminder, Moriah! 🙂 Great quote by Spurgeon!
https://tizziestidbits.wordpress.com
You are welcome, Grace! Yes, that quote is so encouraging!! 🙂
I love that quote from your original article, Moriah! <3
And yes, I believe that you don't condone a lifestyle of living in sin! I love the way you reconciled with your mom. Thanks for including that in the post, too. Thanks for being vulnerable with us about it. It helps me relate to the rest of what you wrote. 🙂
Okay, that makes me feel better!! 😀
You are welcome. It was hard to write, so I’m glad my vulnerability about that situation helped you relate! <3 Blessings!
I needed this article! While I didn’t consider myself a perfectionist, this is something I struggle with constantly. Thanks for writing, Moriah!
I’m glad, Sara! Thank you for reading! <3
Oh, I hope I didn’t intimidate you with my first comment. I didn’t mean to! I appreciate your post! <3
No, not at all!! Don’t worry. <3
Wonderful thank you so much! And coming from a perfectionist this means a lot!
Aww, so glad to hear, Nicole!! Thank you for reading. <3