You Are Enough: Heartbreak, Healing, and Becoming Whole

by Mandy Hale

Sometimes you’ve gotta get a little lost in order to get found. And it’s okay to admit that.

When you lose yourself, you find yourself.

And I would find myself again. Not the same version of me that I was looking for, but a stronger version. A wiser version. A woman who knew that she was enough, just as she was. A woman who had been tried in the fire but, instead of being burned by it, came out gold. A

So when you’re tempted to look for constant clarity and answers, just close your eyes and breathe and remind yourself that God knows what you’re ready for.

He knows, so you don’t have to. You’re free to relax and let go, and, yes, maybe even lose yourself a little in order to find yourself, trusting that in His perfect way, in His perfect timing, all will become clear. And you will get through it. And you are enough, for whatever comes your way.

(2 Cor. 12:9 NIV),

“Jesus wept” (John 11:35 NIV). I think He wanted to remind me that it’s okay for us to weep, too. To mourn. To grieve. But also to rejoice in what remains.

Through it all, God didn’t change. He never has. He never will.

He might not answer our prayers in the way or with the timing that we would like, but He loves us right through the process. Right through the heartbreak. Right through the healing. And right through the becoming whole.

Life can still be really, really amazing even after the unimaginable happens.

It’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to ask questions (even of God). It’s okay to yell and scream and feel, and even cuss if you need to. It’s okay to be right where you’re at, without trying to frantically search for the purpose that will come from your pain or the message that will come from your mess. I’m

What He DID promise was to be with us in the midst of our pain.

When you’re still reeling from any sort of life-altering event, it’s best to take a pause and let the waters calm a little before adding any other waves of change to the mix.

Instead of looking for the happy ending OR the happy everything, how about we just look for the happy RIGHT NOW?

How about we just live the stuffing out of life and welcome everything that shows up—the good and the bad—knowing it’s all a part of our story? And knowing that IT IS ENOUGH?

Sometimes it takes being left seemingly with nothing to realize that you are everything. To see that you held the key to your own happiness and self-worth and belonging and wholeness all along.

through this process, you will become a different person. You will become a person who knows herself. Who accepts herself. And who loves herself, just as she is, regardless of who else does or doesn’t choose to stay in her life.

You were merely a sentence in his story while he was several chapters in yours. And that’s okay.

some people come into our lives not to be loved, but to be lost and learned from in order to help us change and grow.

So many people bump into our lives for a second, and it changes us forever but they never know it. And while that’s funny and strange and a little sad, it’s also just life.

I’d been keeping people at bay from a place of fear while he’d been serial dating from a place of pain.

“Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around” (Prov. 13:12 MSG).

So hold on. Hold on and know that even though pain may be taking your breath away today, it could be beauty that takes your breath away tomorrow. Life is funny like that. And sadness never, ever, EVER gets the last word.

And then you will say a silent prayer of gratitude for that “almost” that never became a “definitely.”

be one of those self-assured, confident, bold women of God who knows exactly who she is, and walks in the freedom of knowing how loved she is, how precious she is, how validated she is.

stop frantically searching for the silver lining of every situation and instead just learn to embrace the ugliness, the doubt, the uncertainty, the fear…as all a part of the journey.

Part of being the heroine of your own life is accepting the bad with the good.

Single and uncertain. Messy but magical. Sometimes lonely but oh so worthy of love, especially our own.

She’s so strong and so blissfully self-approved, and so immune to anything and anyone who tries to bring her down.

I’m finding that we would do better to embrace it as just another stepping-stone to becoming who we’re meant to be.

the truth is, sometimes in life and in love it takes standing too close to the fire to learn how not to get burned.

So forgive yourself for not making different choices. Because good choices make you happy, but bad choices make you better and stronger. Keep being the brave, trusting person that you are, because someday the right person will love you for it instead of exploiting you for it.