“Your voice has value.”
“You are a person of value.”
“You are a person of interest.”
“You have wisdom to share.”
“You don’t do things for attention, but for God.”
These are words people have spoken to me over and over again this year. My teammates have seen my insecurity that I didn’t even know I had. A woman, who had only spent a limited amount of time with me over the course of a week, heard the same things about me from the Lord. I thank God that this has been such a consistent declaration over my life this year.
God brought me out of what was comfortable for me at home and into a community of people I didn’t know and didn’t know me, so that he could bring this to the forefront. The amazing part is that I had no idea it was something I struggled with until I was thrown into the unfamiliar. This whole year the devil has caused me to doubt myself, my abilities, and what I know, even my own past experiences. But the Lord has been faithful to put people in my life to combat those lies and feelings.
Its something the Lord wants me to know, so that I can own my voice, walk in confidence and know that I have something (not me but the Lord working through me) to offer any group of people I join. If I continue to doubt myself, my value and my voice, I’m never going to make an impact in people’s lives whom God wants me to influence. That is something I’ve learned this year.
I know the Lord has given me things to share with people back home. He’s taught me a lot on the Race (even though I even doubt that too) through my experiences as well as through other people’s expertise and wisdom that I know he wants me to impart to others, especially American Christians as a whole.
As much as I want to stay in the background and continue to sit behind a keyboard and write, I know God wants me to SPEAK UP. He wants me to “get in the arena.” He wants me to be confident in what he’s given me to say. He wants me to kick fear in the face and do it anyway.
