Why am I afraid to try?
Most of us remember that burning sensation flooding our face, the first time we attempted to share what we had created in primary school and we just couldn’t get the words out. All eyes were on us. There was that choking feeling deep inside as fear turned into terror and we realized that people all around us had power to make us feel ashamed of who we are.
At that moment, many of us lost confidence in our voice, and began to discount our creative inner voice. Conformity, rigidity, and making sure we didn’t stand out was more important than being true to who we knew we truly were. This experience made us feel different and inferior to others.
All of a sudden that experience tainted our joy as we began to create the next time. Those faces came back to mind and that crippling fear became louder than our desire to be ourselves. It’s at this point, that many of us gave up. We settled for being something less than ourselves.
We began to copy, and life got boring and predictable, while inside we knew that we were born to be different.
Losing your signature
In my book, “Born to Create,” I share,
“I was coloring inside the lines of other people’s expectations, which left my signature out of the picture.”
Most of us haven’t realized that at some point in our life, we gave others power to determine our destiny.
What you don’t know may kill you!
If you are feeling dead inside, just going through the motions of life; going to work, school, life, and there is no color and no excitement- it could be because you are settling for living a life with a death sentence.
Yes, a death sentence because you have allowed others to kill the very essence of creativity inside of you that makes you come alive!
Made in whose image?
Genesis 1:27, says that we are made in God’s image. God doesn’t make junk and He didn’t make a mistake when He created you.
No one can determine your worth, but the One who created you! He says you are wonderful, made perfectly, and made for a purpose (Psalm 139). Every other voice is counterfeit to who God says you are.
Your thought life and behavior will reflect whose voice you believe about who you are and how you are created.
God made you different from everyone else for a creative purpose. You aren’t suppose to look like anyone else, either in looks, personality, intelligence, gifting, mannerisms, and destiny. So STOP comparing!
Free your mind
What if you didn’t think about what others thought when you drew? What if you sang the way you are wired without trying to compare your voice to someone else?
What if you really liked yourself?
It’s time to free your mind from living life self-conscious and just enjoy your originality and “like” the way you have been designed to be!
Tips to liberate your voice
- Begin to agree with God on how He created you and decide to love yourself the way He loves you.
- Start to creatively express yourself and see all of heaven applauding, rather than fearing you will be publicly humiliated like before.
- Forgive those who have boxed you in or made you conform and forgive yourself if you have done this to yourself as well.
- Find pleasure in creating again and learn to trust your voice.
- No matter how small – every time you take a risk and create, you will come alive and begin to discover what God has created you to be.
Testimony
I was extremely shy in growing up and yes, that means my knees knocked and I hid most of my growing up years behind the fear of making mistakes and being humiliated.
I knew God at a young age, but still wrestled with being accepted by others or being confident in social settings. Being a Christian does not mean we are immune to lies that have wormed their way in to our true identity.
How did I overcome?
I had to face the fact that I lived in fear, yet knew that God loved me. I knew I couldn’t change without His help and my deep felt cry to be free.
I began to create by writing poetry, dramas, singing, and creating art that reflected my passions and inner life. Ever so slowly, and with setbacks at times, I emerged and came out of hiding.
I had to fight for my freedom by taking risks to pursue what gave me passion.
My struggle took me on a journey, where I began to trust God and others in community. I just put one foot in front of the other and just started walking.
Sometimes I took one step- other times two- but now I find myself as a published author, international speaker and artist, who speaks around the world so that others can hear about a God who really does set them free.
Get in line!
Not only am I set free and learning how to set others free with God’s love, but now a mighty army is emerging.
People are becoming confident that they ARE born to create.
Musicians, writers, film makers, fashion designers, photographers, artists, culinary chefs, dancers, business owners, entrepreneurs, educators, pastors, and so many others are learning to break free from living in the shadows are also being liberated!
What about you?
We have to let go of beliefs about ourselves that are not in line with God’s thoughts.
It’s time to get out of ruts in our thinking that keep us stuck in grooves of small thinking.
The familiar and safe route we have taken in the past to hide who we are will always lead to stagnation and eventually death to our dreams.
Andre Gide says,
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage
to lose sight of the shore.”
What shore are you holding on to inside of yourself that are keeping your creativity from sailing on the seas only you can discover?
It’s time to cut the cords that keep you bound and venture out into the deep.
Once you leave that shore, you will never want to go back!
Take courage to be who you have been created to be!