A while back I was talking with a friend of mine who is an amateur photographer. I had recently bought a camera so decided to pick his brain since I was always impressed with the quality of his photos.

I asked him if he had ever thought about advertising his skills or charging clients. When he said no I asked him why. He responded that he wasn’t confident enough in his picture-taking skills to actually charge people for his photos. Basically, he didn’t think he was good enough.

To be honest, I was a little shocked. Not because he didn’t want to start a photography business, but because his reason was he didn’t think his pictures were good enough. I’d seen his pictures and they were very good!

However, before I could point out how his reasoning was illogical, I had to stop. I thought about my own life and realized how every single one of us has those areas in our lives where we lack confidence. Some people doubt themselves and their abilities more than others, but everyone has at least one insecurity.

But the problem isn’t that we have insecurities or doubts (we’re human and imperfect). The issue occurs when we don’t respond to those doubts in the correct manner, when we hide behind them and use them as a reason for not fulfilling God’s complete mission for us here on earth.

So how do we become more confident people to fulfill God’s plan for us?

It starts with recognizing our dependence on God, placing all our confidence in Him, and trusting in His plan even through failures.

But It’s Just Me

I always thought I was a pretty confident person, but then I realized a lot of my confidence comes from what other people say or think about me. And that’s not confidence at all.

As an athlete, a lot of times I want to prove to people that I’m good so they’ll respect me as a tennis player. And to do that I have to win matches. But if I were truly confident in myself, then I wouldn’t need to win all the time. I wouldn’t need people to complement me to feel good about myself. I would KNOW I’m good.

It was a similar thing when I started this blog. It was something I wanted to do for the longest time, but I was scared. Even once I started writing, it took me six months to actually publish anything because I didn’t feel adequate.

I thought, “It’s just me. I’m not some great writer, and I don’t know everything. There’s also so many blogs out there. Why would anyone want to read mine?” It took a couple conversations and encouragement from close friends before I actually went through with it.

In both of these scenarios, I felt like I needed other people to validate I was good enough, that my abilities were good. However, we shouldn’t be relying on other people for our confidence! Rather, our confidence should come straight from God, since He is the One who gave us our abilities.

We don’t have to be confident in ourselves, but we do need to be confident in the God that gave us our talents and trust that He will help us use our skills adequately.

The Common Factor

I mentioned how some people are more confident in themselves and their abilities than others, and it’s also these people that tend to be the most successful. You always hear those crazy stories of how certain individuals defy the odds and achieve their dreams despite the hand they were dealt. We all know those stories of people like Michael Jordan, Albert Einstein, or Thomas Edison.

I think it’s important to note that the thing these stories all have in common is that those people all believed in themselves DESPITE what other people said or thought of them, not BECAUSE of what they thought. It’s something innate in them.

Now I’m not saying all of us are called to be successful by worldly standards, because we’re not. Some of us will be more successful than others. And how successful we become with the gifts God has given us should not deter us from using them. I may not become the next Serena Williams or some famous blogger and speaker, but I can still touch people’s lives in my small way. And so can you!

ALL of us are called to fulfill God’s plan for us. All of us must respond to that with the skills He has equipped us with. And I think that’s important.

God has made each and every one of us adequate and skilled enough for the tasks He has assigned us to. So if there’s something on your heart you want to pursue, but don’t know if you can do it, try! Let God prove you wrong. Don’t limit what He can do in you just because you don’t think you can do it.

Don’t be like the guy in the Bible who buried his talents in the ground, afraid He wouldn’t be able to make His Master proud (Matthew 25: 14-30). The servant didn’t make use of all that was given to him so he was a useless servant!

Instead, let’s be the people who say, “Heck with it! If God put this on my heart, I’m gonna do it!” Even if we’re scared of failure and rejection, or don’t feel good enough, we have to try!

Be Not Afraid

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all I have told you… Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid (John 14: 25-27).”

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid… Christ leaves us these words and gives us the Holy Spirit so we have the courage to fulfill His mission on earth.

However, far too often we give into the temptations of the devil. We give into fear, let it drive us, let it hold us back.

And I think one of the main reasons we become afraid is we take our focus off what Christ wants us to do, and turn our focus inwards on ourselves. Our inadequacies start to scare us. We freak out because we wonder what people will think of us. Setbacks and failures trouble us.

But if everything is for Christ, and nothing for ourselves, we should never be troubled or afraid! Confidence should come natural because we are perfectly equipped by Christ for our mission here on earth. And if we fail at something, we should be confident even in our failures, knowing it’s all part of the plan.

So get outside yourself today and remember the mission God has for you: to use all of your talents to glorify Him and lead others to Christ.

And what should you do with that fear and insecurity you ask? Send it right back to hell where it belongs. 😉

From the depths of my soul, 

Josie