“Thank you for this lovely blunt object that I will forevermore use as a weapon against self doubt.” ~ Anne Hathaway during her acceptance speech for winning the Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress award for Les Miserables.
The Confidence I hang out with wears pale blue and sunny yellow with a pleasant smile. Every whipstitch I talk her into donning rich jewel tones, like royal purple or emerald green. It’s taking time, but she’s becoming more open minded to vibrant colors.
I assumed Anne Hathaway’s Confidence would be swimming in flashy colors. After all, isn’t she already swimming in millions? But apparently, even successful Hollywood actresses aren’t immune to the squawking voice of Self Doubt.
I’m certain Anne is exceedingly grateful for her Golden Globe award. It’s lovely to own a tangible reminder of your hard work being well received, especially in a subjective field like acting. But I believe what she’s really thankful for are the folks behind the statue, the people who placed their confidence in her abilities by voting for her in the first place.
A well deserved pat on the back bolsters our own confidence in God’s calling for our lives. Whether the shingle outside your door says doctor or actor or writer or mama, we all need an inner circle of people who believe in us and what we do. People who put an arm around us or squeeze our hand and whisper, “Girl, you got this.”
To walk confidently in our gifts is not to hide from self doubt, but to look it in the face and say I am not a slave to you. Doubt may be part of our human condition, but it’s also an opportunity to remain close to Jesus and touch His wounds. Tangible reminders of His confidence in us shine near and far. May we open our eyes to see those sharp weapons against self doubt in our paths, and as appropriate, may we serve as confidence building treasure to others.
Who is one of your weapons against self doubt?
If you would like to join a community of women who beautifully cheer one another on, click here. Women are even pairing up with buddies to pray for and encourage one another in their callings and dreams. I’ve met with the talented and endearing Jacque to do just this. Thanks, friend!
Um, I don’t have any weapons…I am a hider. Guess that needs to change…
I do think it’s harder for gals like us – military wives – to find these. But you are beautiful and a delight and beyond talented, so don’t keep all that awesomeness from others. {grin} xo
One of my weapons is His Word! It fills me with such peace & hope to know what God thinks about me and how He feels about me. My prayer is to grow increasingly aware of when I am dealing with self doubt and intentionally using God’s Word to change my thoughts. My other weapon are my friends that hear from God and speak His promises into my life. Their words help to build my faith.
Perfection, Karina. We all have the sword of the Spirit as our primo weapon, right? Great reminder.
I love the picture of using words of encouragement from other as our weapons to fight the feelings of self-doubt. I have wonderful friends that are always encouraging me in my God-sized dream but I have a hard time holding on it their words to swing as a sword. I struggle to accept it as truth and not just friendly nicety. I will work to change my thought process when the words come my way.
Amy, I struggle with that too. Lots of they’re-just-saying-that-to-be-kind-or-because-I’m-a-nice-person going on in my head. Working on taking my thoughts captive to Christ so I am better at – in your awesome words – swinging the sword. Thanks for stopping by, Amy!
Yes! We all need these people in our lives to help us shut the door on self-doubt. It took me a long time to realize this and now I’m not sure what I would do without these people, that pray and encourage.
Kristen, I love the way the Lord brings people together. My husband was a seminary student that got drafted in 1971, and “we” ended up spending 10 years in the USAF, while he navigated airplanes around the globe. Some of the best lessons we learned were in the Air Force; and, some of the best Christian role models that encouraged us were air force families.
I met one of my good friends in Fort Worth. We had been invited to visit a church there, which we later joined, by another air force family that was at our former base. There were also many seminary families at that church, and to this day, Connie (a seminary wife), is still one of my best friends. Jim and I had a dream, because he had a call on his life to be a minister of music. My friend and I sat at her kitchen table one day, and we prayed for Jim to see exactly what it was God wanted him to do — stay in the USAF or go back to seminary. It wasn’t long after that, he came home and told me he was getting out of the air force. Our lives were forever changed.
Oh, I know self-doubt well. Believe me, I have had a few over the years when the going got tough. But God has always been with me. He has gotten me through difficult times and wonderful times. What’s crazy is even the difficult times have their wonderful moments, because He has filled me with inexpressible joy and comfort. God bless you. Isn’t this blogging world wonderful, that we can make connections like this? Praying for you today, Deborah
Deborah, thanks for sharing part of your story here. It blesses me more than you know. Leaning into His comfort with you…
I have three beautiful sisters who cheer me on…and so many more friends who for 20 years, we have been raising our kids together in prayer through our Moms In Prayer groups. So need this!!
Anne’s quote stood out to me. Clear. True. Profound. I thought of our community at (in)courage and all you lovely hearts.
I love you so much, friend!
SUCH a good word here. Thank you.