[New Song with post}-- Let Your Light Shine
/I’ve attended a number of online writers’ conferences during the past few years. They all have talked about “the imposter syndrome.” I had never heard of it before, but apparently it’s a “condition” most writers experience — “WHO AM I to have anything to say that someone would like to read? I’m not really an authority on anything.”
And with continual negatives from publishers and lack of response to blogposts or other writings, you can understand why writers go through the “imposter syndrome.” As a brother said to me recently, “Writing is a lonely craft, isn’t it?’
So here is the “dictionary definition" of “imposter syndrome:”
…a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.
I have come to realize not just writers go through this. Many of us children of God go through the “imposter syndrome.” Maybe it’s when we begin to get a glimpse of what God has gifted us for . We may feel like “frauds” or fear it may be wishful thinking. Or because of others’ reactions — basically communicating “Who do you think you are?”
I think of Jesus’ own words:
“A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” Mark 6:4 NLT
But at the same time He tells us to “let our light shine:”
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father..”
Matthew 5:14-16 NLT
And I also think of the apostle Paul, speaking about himself compared with the other apostles:
For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. BUT whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed. 1 Corinthians 15:9-11 NLT
And he also reminds us
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 NLT
We are each gifted, not for our own sake, but for others:
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-122 NLT
And I love this quote. When I first heard this, it was life changing for me.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us…
And as we let our own light shine,we give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Nelson Mandela 1994 Inaugural Speech
So brothers and sisters, do you ever feel like an imposter? Do you give into that feeling and hold back on what God is doing through you?
Stop!
Embrace who God made you to be. You are God’s gift to those around you, O gifted one.
Let your light shine and glorify your Father.
Amen.
