Trust Yourself!

Something you might be surprised to learn about me is that there are situations where I am afraid of public speaking. I know! It’s my whole thing. I’ve made a brand on public speaking, and yet I am often afraid of speaking at my church. It's something about being in the pulpit that makes it VERY IMPORTANT to get right!  

Anyone who knows me knows I prefer to write anything I’m going to speak word for word before I go through and memorize it. Sometimes life doesn't allow you to prepare as you would like.  One Sunday, our Pastor was going to be late, so they needed a quick message while we waited for him to arrive. I was the lucky fill in.  I was not confident at all about how this was going to go.

Well, I delivered my short message, and guess what happened?

My Pastor arrived in time to hear my message.  He was lead to change his message to piggyback off of mine.

Despite not being confident in delivering on such short notice, my experience in public speaking and following Christ had prepared me for that moment.  My words were able to touch not only my congregation, but my Pastor.

Why am I telling this story?

Sometimes we think we aren’t qualified enough or prepared enough to do things. We think those aren’t our spaces to shine because we’ve carved out a niche we’re comfortable in. Sometimes we have to realize the only one limiting us to those niches are ourselves. If you’ve put in the work, trust yourself to excel. You might surprise yourself and impact those around you for the better.