Y’all… I can’t believe I just did that! I just gave an hour-long message (give or take because there was discussion in between) at our BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) meeting tonight! For those of you who don’t know me, I hate public speaking. I’m not just saying that… I really do. I don’t know why, but I always get soooooooo nervous.
For example (I knew y’all were waiting to see why I specified America), when I was in Peru this summer, our team was asked to “take over” the church service that week in one of the communities we visited along the Amazon River. We decided that four of us were going to speak that Sunday, and I was one of the ones who reluctantly volunteered. Mind you, we were given very short notice that we would be doing this. I literally had to prepare a message overnight. And I did.
I spoke for possibly ten minutes, maybe less (but translation doubles the time, so it felt twice as long anyway). And I kid you not, the entire time my face probably looked like a tomato (and not because of sunburn), and I was staring down at the piece of paper with my notes that said word for word what I wanted to say. I’m not gonna lie… it was pretty rough.
BUT… tonight was different! I’ve had most of my notes prepared for the last month, and I made a whole powerpoint. I really got to take the time to understand what I was talking about on a deeper level and weened myself off the notes. Somehow I literally doubled the “time limit” I was aiming for. And sure, maybe the increased preparation time had an impact on how I delivered my message, but personally, I think it’s just growth. My God-fidence has increased.
I’ve stopped letting stupid things get in the way of what God has for me. So yeah… I did it! I “preached” (even though it technically isn’t Sunday). I wasn’t even prepared for everyone’s comments afterward. I reached my goal of leaving everyone as shook as I was when I read that passage in the Bible myself. God is so cool, and I’m so happy that I had the opportunity to do this. Never forget that God has an awesome dream specifically for you!
-Catherine 🙂
