One of the biggest shifts in my life came the moment I accepted this uncomfortable truth: no matter how hard I work, I will never be deserving of all that I’ve been given.
Let me back up.
For as long as I can remember — and I have to be really honest here — I carried a chip on my shoulder.
I’ve always worked hard—really hard. But my main motivation wasn’t just achieving. It was to avoid the perception that I was lazy. Spoiled. Privileged. Now, on one hand, that drive helped me accomplish a lot. On the other, it left me with an everlasting aching feeling of never being fully satisfied. I didn’t know how to celebrate myself. I couldn’t acknowledge myself – nor hear when others acknowledged me. I never felt valued, appreciated, seen. I was stuck in this loop of proving, achieving, and seeking validation.
It was as if I had something to prove to everybody else.
With time — and a whole lot of work through coaching — I started to understand where that energy came from. It was comparison. Some of it came from my grandmother comparing me to other family members. Some came from being ridiculed by classmates for asking questions that were actually smart—they just didn’t get it. I was marked as “dumb” until a teacher would step in and correct them. Those moments planted a belief in me:
I have to earn my place. I have to work harder than everyone else to be worthy.
And so, that was the chip on my shoulder.
Until I read Proverbs 10:22: “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and no effort can add to it.” Read that again.
No effort can add to it.
It started to make me see everything that I have, everything that I am as grace.
Now, I know I am a sinner – “who’s probably gonna sin again”. But I don’t think I was quite brave enough to acknolwedge that before. And one of the things that I battled with was how it made me feel on he portion of mass in which we said: “through my fault, through my fault, through my own most grievous fault.” I was so scared to recognize my own unworthiness. Because, being guilty and a sinner, equaled being unworthy to me.
When I started focusing on the grace of God, on His infinite mercy, on all the times I was crying and I opened the Bible — and I found the exact word that I needed to hear at the time… that’s when I understood: it’s not about me. It’s about Him.
It doesn’t mean that I don’t have to be diligent and excellent. I do, as a way to honor Him. It means that I need boundaries, rest. That I have to make time for other things — personal life — and make time for simply being.
Worthiness doesn’t come from what I do or what I can offer. It comes from my inherent value as a daughter of God.
And so, today, as you read this… If you – like me – have a chip on your shoulder, I hope you can now hear this:
There is nothing you can ever do that will make you deserving — because you already are. And even if you don’t feel inherently valuable, it doesn’t matter, because God will bestow His grace upon you, regardless.
Because it is not about you.
It is not about me.
It is about His infinite mercy, His infinite grace — and all glory to Him.
And I hope that right now, you give Him your burden. The pressure to perform. The need to prove. The fear that you’re not enough. Because his “yoke is easy, and [his] burden is light.” (MT 11:30)
Let GRACE carry what was never yours to hold.
You don’t have to earn what’s already been freely given. You don’t have to strive for a love that’s already yours. You don’t have to hustle for your place at a table God built for you.
Let Him love you tonight.
Let Him remind you:
You are safe now.
It’s already done.
You belong here.
You’re already home.
Rest. The work is complete.
He’s not asking for more. He’s asking for you.
Let go. He’s already won.
Let Him shine through you.
Be.
With Him, in Him and through Him.
And let that be enough.
Paula Camila Pinto | Direito, Consciência & Arte 