Believe in yourself

The first time I felt that God was asking me to believe in myself was crazy scary.

I had confidence in other areas. Not a lot, but enough to get by, but this? Believing that God would speak to me and ask me to step out in His name?

Not so much.

I’ve learned a lot since then and what I’ve learned took the pressure off. Woosh — yes, that’s what it felt like.

It’s not pass or fail

Stepping into the new isn’t a test. You don’t get a grade. It’s not based on whether it’s successful. That’s how people judge things.

God just asks us to do it.

My friend, Lysa TerKeurst once said, “Just showing up is half the battle.”

When we show up, we are admitting we aren’t really sure what’s going to happen, but we’re open to the adventure. We might fall on our face. We might not get a gold star, but we’re going to learn. We’re going to participate.

Stepping fully into the new that God is doing inside of you isn’t supposed to be pressure packed or “you have to do it right the first time.” It’s a simple call to experience the new. That’s the adventure.

Just show up. Be there. Be present. Wave your hand in the air when He invites you to experience deeper depths, to trust Him, to be an explorer of your own self with His help.

It’s a trust walk

You don’t know you like He knows you.

Stepping into the new is a discovery process. If you had told me years ago that I’d be a writer, I would have said, “Yep, I agree.”

If you had said I’d speak or stand in front of people in any way, I would have told you that you were crazy.

Downright, bonafide crazy. 

That same doubt would have crept up in a hundred other areas, like confidence, or being at ease with people.

He’s your creator. As you step into the new, there will be things you already know, but there’s ten more that you don’t. Trusting Him is believing that He sees what you don’t.

Let the old die

For years I’ve been telling people that I’m a shy girl that holds a microphone. Not too long ago I felt the Holy Spirit challenge me when I spoke those words.

Really, Suzie? Is that who you are?

No, it is who I used to be. It’s not who I am now. Am I still an introvert?

Kind of. Not really. Um, maybe not all.

Woah.

Can you see how this works? Sometimes we hold those old definitions and labels, when there’s new that has been written on our hearts.

I still fill up by being alone, so in that sense I’m an introvert. Yet I also fill up by being with people and love nothing more than being with good friends or meeting new people. In that sense, I’m the new me — the extrovert, not shy at all girl who found confidence in my relationship with my Savior.

So, let those labels drop to the ground. If others try to speak them over you, let the words fall from their lips (it’s what they once saw, so it makes sense), but just be you — the real you.

The new you.

Suzie

Related Resource

When I looked in the mirror I saw me — a woman under construction. A building project that was dragging on and on, complete with breakdowns and cost overruns ….

I saw my life as a construction zone. All I could perceive was the dust and noise and sweat. But God, the ultimate designer of my life, reached down to remind me that he had plans for me. It was time to view myself in an entirely different way: As the woman I was becoming. ~ Suzanne (Suzie Eller)
The Woman I Am Becoming: Embracing the Chase for Identity, Faith, and Destiny