I hated feeling so uneasy and uncertain. Lost within my own heart. If only I knew what was making my emotions so wobbly. If only I could name it. Then I could figure out what to do about it. One morning, Jesus whispered it’s name in the quiet of my heart. It was doubt. It wasn’t fear. It wasn’t worry. Self-doubt was making me question everything I thought, felt and said. Naming it helped me know how to pray. Naming it led me to confessions I needed to make and promises I could claim. Naming it made me feel like I could finally stand up to it. Two summers ago, I got to visit the Farm and sit on the porch with my friend, Ann Voskamp. We talked about the power of naming things- the hard and the holy everyday grace things. How essential it is to our healing. We shared how doubt and fear had overshadowed our lives for so long, but how we both found hope and freedom once we learned to name them. Would you join us on the porch? {Be sure to turn up the volume. A tractor passes by and it gets kind of loud.} If you’re reading this via email, click here to view the video on my website.
“When you don’t have a name for something, you’re haunted by it’s shadows…But when you can name something… It loses it’s mask and you can find a strategy to deal with it.” (One Thousand Gifts)
Just days after Ann and I chatted on the porch, I received these two notes. “Renee, I just finished reading the first chapter of A Confident Heart . Thank you so much for writing a book like this and knowing exactly what it’s called that I’m going and have gone through all my life and didn’t know what it was called. ~ Sharon “I’ve always doubted myself, but like you I called mine different names. It felt so good to know and hear that I am not alone and that I can find my God-Confidence. ~ Megin
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Lord, thank you for showing us just how much we need to name that doubt, that fear, that worry – so we can find a strategy to overcome it with You! There is power in Your Name, and power in naming the things that hold us captive. Give us wisdom and insight to name them, and courage to claim and walk in the overcoming power that is ours in Christ. In Jesus Name Amen! Join Us On The Porch Slip a note in the comments below this post by clicking “Share your thoughts.” As a special gift, each of you who join Ann and my conversation will be entered for a chance win one of three copies of A Confident Heart and one copy of Ann Voskamp’s New York Times Best-Seller, One Thousand Gifts. 
Meet Us On the Porch Again This Week? Ann and I kept talking, and we’d love for you to join us on the porch again on Thursday, when we’ll share more. If you’d like a little reminder, enter your email in the box in my sidebar that says
RECEIVE EMAIL UPDATES and I’ll slip a note in your inbox when it’s posted.
Naming it does help you to surrender it to God and search out His truths. Right now, I’m naming fear and trusting God.
Thank you for this! It has opened my eyes and my heart.
I’d love to join you on the porch! I am ready for God to help me identify and name what is in the dark – not doctors or other people with letters after their names. GOD sees it and GOD heals it.
As I saw this I was thinking wow that is exactly what I have been trying to do, name what it is that is troubling me. This was really encouraging because for so long myself have struggled to name what that issue is. I have felt for so long I have had this cloud hanging over me and not being able to have peace or break through. Been finally able to name it “selfishness”. The hard part is knowing how to work through that so it doesn’t keep controlling my life.
These past few years have been so tough,and nothing seems to be easing up. I think trying to define what I feel would help, although sometimes I think if I jsut sat still enough, I would know. Doubt, fear, loneliness. I would love to win these books, if not, going to purchase! Thanks so much.
I just recently purchased ” A Confident Heart”, I feel like your words match how I’ve felt for a very longtime now, I’ve struggled without a father, being a good wife stepmom and mom, a career, and losing my husband to drugs and losing my marriage. and now watching my children struggle with life and its temptations….Thank you for sharing your wisdom and insights! so I can walk more confidently in this life with Christ and into the next …..
This was so perfectly timed… God is good! Those shadows are so powerful in their oppression… I had never realized the power of naming the darkness before. Last night I was able to talk about my questions, concerns, and doubts with a friend who was willing to listen and help me shape them. He gave me clarity and confidence in my perceptions which had been filled with self-doubt and insecurity. Seeing all these comments helps me to see that self-doubt is part of our human condition; why it is so important for us to of course rely on God, but also be vulnerable enough to share our fears with each other.
I needed to se this! In the midst of making so many decisions and struggling with doubts right now. Thanks!
Thank you for the thought prayer and insight this has inspired.