Overcoming Inadequacy: Finding Your Worth Like Leah

Have you ever met someone who started a new business during a pandemic without an ounce of experience?

Me either, until I did it.

Thinking back, I have always admired myself for taking risks. But when you’re a single mom searching for stability, making calculated choices is a wiser decision.

My entrepreneurial spirit wanted to keep my business going without a clear plan. I was so curious to see how it would turn out.

But the mother in me realized it was time to consider my daughter’s future. A sacrifice had to be made.

So, I decided to close my business. And once I returned to a full-time job, I instantly thought I had fallen behind.

Most women my age made six figures and were well-established with husbands and children.

Not me.

I was starting over completely and questioning why I hadn’t considered the fate of my future sooner.

And then the comparisons began. I started to let myself fixate on what my life could look like if I had taken a different path.

It’s easy to feel forgotten. I felt overlooked, like being in a track race where no one wants to pass you the baton.

Much like Leah

Who is Leah? She is a woman who appears in the Book of Genesis.

Leah was an innocent bystander before being coerced into a decision that made her feel unlovable.

Many of you are very familiar with the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel.

But if your memory is a bit fuzzy, here is a little refresher to bring you up to speed.

Jacob meets Rachel by the well.

Jacob ultimately decides to ask Rachel’s father for her hand in marriage.

Now, here is where things get messy.

Rachel’s father, Laban, tells Jacob that he must work for him for seven years to marry his daughter.

Jacob agrees to the terms, but on his wedding day, Laban tricks him. The woman under the veil was not Rachel but rather her older sister, Leah.

Laban insists that Leah must be married before her younger sister, Rachel.

Jacob agrees to work for Laban for another seven years to marry Rachel, the woman he truly loves.

Jacob ultimately finds himself married to two wives, which is the perfect definition of “sister wives.”

No one talks about how this has affected Leah. She may have felt cheap, small, or just downright awful.

She was forced to marry a man who didn’t love her.

In my opinion, some of us in this generation wouldn’t have survived the Biblical days.

The Takeaway

We can all relate to Leah. We experience feelings of inadequacy, being overlooked, or left behind.

But let me remind you of how this story ends.

Jacob never developed feelings for Leah, and God did not step in to change that. Instead, God blessed Leah with children.

Even though she felt unloved, she could find great comfort in knowing that God had not forgotten her.

In Matthew 6:4, it says, “Your heavenly Father sees all the good that you do, and He will reward you.”

We’ve all felt disappointment when others didn’t recognize our worth or when life went terribly wrong.

God wanted Leah to realize that her true worth comes from His perspective. It does not depend on how others see her or how she sees herself.

The story of Leah teaches us to accept ourselves, to persevere through the negative thoughts we place on ourselves, and to find true fulfillment in God’s plan for our lives.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “You are the Lord’s workmanship; you belong to Him. You don’t have to be enough, do enough, or clean yourself up before you come to Him. You are His workmanship.”

Despite Leah’s challenges, her story is beautiful; God saw her pain and blessed her because of it.

Jacob may not have loved her, but the Lord never overlooked her.

Like many of us who struggle with this, it took time for Leah to realize how much God truly loved her.

Yet, once her eyes were fixed on Him, God helped her shift her focus to His plan.

I am here, friend, to tell you to stop comparing yourself. Do not think you are falling behind in life. You are exactly where God has placed you.

Your life is not a mistake. It’s time to trust God. He will give you a new beginning, just as He did for Leah.

I suppose it’s time for me to take my own advice.

Until next time!