“That looks fun, but I could never do it.” How many times have you whispered this to yourself?
I started playing guitar and writing songs in college. I never recall ever having the thought, “I want to write songs, they just started coming out.” As such, I didn’t see my songs as anything more than personal therapy at best. I remember going to concerts in the early years following college and hearing those very same words repeated in the recesses of my mind, “That looks like fun, but I could never do it.” I could feel my heart quicken, followed immediately by my mind swooping in and overriding my heart with “logic.”
It didn’t matter whether it was an arena concert or a local band, that same limiting thought filled my mind and kept me from even considering that this could be part of God’s purpose for my life.
When people began to affirm my songwriting, the most I could possibly imagine was writing songs for other artists. All the while, God kept bringing people into my life to affirm not only my songs, but my need to sing them. Though I allowed myself to move passed the idea that “I could never do it”, I still struggled with a new version of the same limiting thought. “I could never do it as well as ________________” fill in the blank with pretty much anyone I heard play or sing.
For years I feared getting out on stage because, my thoughts were on my own abilities, which I always knew were lacking. God has been gracious with me however, not only bringing amazing people into my path to affirm and mentor me, but Fathering me through the persistent struggle of limiting thoughts.
In reality, I have learned it is good not to be too confident in our own abilities. Doing so only provides us with a false sense of security and independence. However, when we trust God’s call more than our own limiting thoughts He never ceases to amaze us.
And now I realize my perceived limits are in actuality a blessing in disguise, as they require me to put my trust in God and not my own abilities. As I have continued to push through my perceived limits I do so knowing it’s going to take total dependence on God to get me to where He is leading.
The more I’ve ignored the limiting thoughts, the more faint they grow. And the more faint they become the more I see the same struggle in many of our Biblical heroes; Moses, Gideon, and the apostles, just to name a few.
Do you have thoughts that limit your opportunities? Do others affirm in you abilities you don’t even allow yourself to consider? Press in! Do the hard work of honing your gifts, and most of all trust that God is calling you to move beyond your perceived limits and into the best version of you! The you He created you to be!
