He must increase, but I
must decrease. John 3:30
 |
| I'm just not comfortable in the spotlight. |
The
past few years I’ve been doing a good bit of public speaking, and as many of
you know, it’s way out of my comfort
zone. As a matter of fact, if I wasn’t certain God was asking me to share what
He’s doing in my life, I wouldn’t be doing it.
Even
still, I’m not comfortable with the spotlight shining on me. It just feels
wrong, like I’m calling attention to myself rather than to God.
The
only way I’ve found to mitigate this feeling is by drawing a clear contrast
between what God has to work with (me) and the results of His miraculous
effort. But for this to be effective, I
have to be willing to show myself honestly—with all my flaws.
At
first that was as scary as the whole up-on-stage bit.
But
after a time or two of letting people see through who I wanted them to think I
was and directly at who I actually was, I discovered something. There truly is
an amazing freedom in just being yourself. I no longer had to keep up the
pretense of being an expert or even being in charge. I could just relax and be—resting in whatever God wanted to
bring out.
 |
| Transparent is just another word for invisible. |
When
I’m truly transparent, God can shine through in all His glory. There are no
smudges of me to get in the way.
So
what smudges are you holding onto? Take a chance and join me in the freedom of letting
go.
Edie, I'm not comfortable in the spotlilght either. I'm terrified of getting up in front of a crowd and speaking. As you know, my passion is women but I'm terrified of getting up and speaking in front of them. I would be just as happy to sit in my little corner of the blogosphere and write devotions, but I feel that God is calling me to more. I guess that's why I'm applying for Vonda's conference! Thanks so much for sharing your heart. It makes me believe that I can do the same and not worry about people watching the "way it should be." Love you, sweet friend!
ReplyDeleteWow! I can't believe you posted this this week. I was just emailing a friend about becoming more transparent on my blog. I was hesitating about posting a story in which the ugliest of my pride displays itself. However, I know the stories in the Bible that resonate with me the most are the ones where the "great ones" fell. Why? Because it tells me that even though I fall sometimes, I can still be used by God. It encourages me to continue on rather than wallow in negative self-absorption. Thanks for this!!!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, Connie.
DeleteI, too, am terrified of public speaking. But, I've been sensing that God wants me to take the topic of my blog - gleaning writing ideas from everyday life - to writers at writer's conferences. I did a workshop years ago at Write to Publish. I thought it was a disaster. Then, a friend who is on staff with that conference told me that she overheard someone talking about that workshop and how much she learned. It was years later and still someone learned something and remembered it. I realized that I didn't matter. God got the message through despite my failure. Now, I just need to take that step to get into conferences.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder, Edie.
WOW Edie, what a great post. God shines through us when we're transparent. I've never thought of that before!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edie, again. The Lord always seem to use you to say something I need to hear. I like the idea of being a window, not a mirror.
ReplyDeleteWonderful words, Edie.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a post that gives instructions on how to make quotes Tweetable like you did in this one?
Kim, I do. It's called Click to Tweet and the link is listed in this Monday's Social Media post. Here's the link also: http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com/2012/10/social-media-mondayclick-to-tweet.html. It's not clickable here, but you can copy and paste it into your browser. Blessings, E
DeleteThanks so much, Edie. I'll check it out.
Delete