Have you ever had that awful, sinking feeling of not being enough . . . not smart enough or good enough?
For weeks I had felt inadequate and incompetent about everything — from the way I parented to the way I served God in ministry to the way I organized my time and my life. It got so bad one day, I literally begged God to take away my feelings of insecurity.
He didn’t answer the way I hoped, but instead He showed me what I needed to see in the most unexpected way. That afternoon, while I was putting on make-up in my bathroom, I turned around to put something away and noticed a huge nine-foot shadow on the wall behind me. I’m only 5’2″ so the humongous shadow caught me by surprise.
As I stood there looking at the shadow it dawned on me: I could only see the shadow when I turned away from the light. Not only that, I had created the huge shadow by blocking the light from above my mirror.
In that moment, I sensed God showing me something I will never forget: My insecurities create shadows of doubt over my heart and soul when I turn away from the Light of God’s truth about me.
Shadows are created all around us when something blocks light and so it is with the shadow of doubt.
When we focus our thoughts on how inadequate we feel, or what others think about us or how we’re performing compared to someone else, we cast a shadow of doubt in our minds by blocking the light of God’s Truth in our hearts.
But we were not designed to block the light. We were created to live in the Light by focusing on what God thinks about us instead of what we think about ourselves.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” {John 8:12, NIV}. When we follow Jesus closely and completely in our thoughts, turning away from doubts and lies, we can find lasting security and confidence in Him.
Feeling paralyzed by uncertainty and insecurity is not where God wants us to live. Instead, He calls us to purposefully shift our focus from our feelings of inadequacy to the promises of His sufficiency in our lives.
When Jesus spoke to the people in John 8:12, He called them out of darkness. And each day He calls us as well, to walk in truth {Light} as we replace feelings of low self-confidence with lasting soul-confidence.
So the next time you feel like you’re not enough, pause for a minute to recognize you’re standing in the shadow of self-doubt, and turn your heart toward the Light by focusing your thoughts on God’s truths instead:
When you feel inadequate, remember God says: You are CHOSEN.
‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He.’ {Isaiah 43:10, NIV}
When you feel unstable, remember God says: You are ABLE.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. {Habakkuk 3:19, NIV}
When you feel unworthy, remember God says: You are PRECIOUS and LOVED.
. . . you are precious and honored in my sight, and . . . I love you. {Isaiah 43:4, NIV}
Lord, You say I am a chosen woman, a royal priest, a holy daughter, a woman belonging to You. Help me believe You, and live beyond the shadows of my doubts as I follow and focus on the Light of Your truth today.
~Renee Swope
author of A Confident Heart