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.
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Oh my goodness! What a powerful tool this is. It is a way to help me focus on how to pray. It helps me grab on to something rather than sitting in the junk. Thank you so much for this video. It will change on how I attack the enemy right back!
Winnie Morehead
“I know how loved I am when I name the gifts. Because things go so fast, I miss the gifts… If I can slow down to name them, I see that I’m oved in the midst of a crazy-whirlwind kind of life.” So good and so true!!! “One Thousand Gifts” has really challenged me to stop and thank God for the everyday little things that God brings into my busy life. How he holds and sustains me through it all.
I agree, naming both the good AND the bad and then turning it back to Christ can be so freeing and healing. Thank you so much to you ladies for your ministries and for sharing your insight! I have been abundantly blessed by both of you!!!
This conversation was very encouraging to me! Thanks for sharing:)
Name it!!! WOW! It is necessary to know your adversary in order to create a plan to overcome it. GOOD STUFF!! I think we know this, but it is neccessary to hear it from time to time. Thank you!!
thank you so much for “naming it”!!
I am so thankful for the opportunity to share in your conversation. Naming both the good gifts and negative trials in my life changed my perspective. God is good and I am blessed because my good gifts always out weighs the negative trials. Thank you for giving yourself to the Lord and sharing your heart with so many of us that struggle with the same problems. It’s when I hear others talk about what they fight with that helps me to understand that we all face the same things and we can get strength from one another to push further then we ever thought or imagined. Thank You!!
Both of these books have been used by God in my life to bring about some radical change for the better!! I pray that my life can someday be used to bless others as much as you ladies have blessed mine! And I haven’t finished either book yet! I’m still in the process of reading both! Thank you for being faithful to God’s call on your lives…
I loved the way you were talking on the porch together as if no one else was watching. I also loved that Ann confessed that she still has fears–it shows she’s human, and makes it easier to relate to her. What a great teaching time! Thank you both for sharing!
Rene i love you and Ann! I look forward to both your emails daily and can’t wait to see the next porch video. Ann has such a poetic way with her thoughts, and you are so positive and inspiring, empowering women to love themselves as imperfect as we are, it is a joy to see your unique personalities interact! Thank you for blessing us with your conversations. Good is good!
This couldn’t come at a better time. Going through a tough time after the death of my Dad. Countingy blessings comes hard right now. It is starting to get easier to remember the good times with my dad but my heart aches so much. So much has changed since he died. But there is always a light in dark times. And that Light is Jesus!!
Been wanting to read 1000 Gifts for a while. Guess it might be time to do it!
what a couple of dear, dear ladies – thank you for posting this and I want to get both books –
Without prompting my grand daughter who is 8 yrs old named hers today (3 no less) – and then we prayed a simple prayer asking The Lord to help her make choices that will honor Him. WOW !! !! !!
This makes so much sense….you cannot fight a battle without knowing who or what the enemy is. Thank you.
Wow, naming it really brings out more repressed doubt that helps you deal with what’s there. It’s less scary when you have it in front of you rather than that shadow following us.
Thanks for sharing your words.
Am so blessed and thankful to hear about naming things. All my life there are so many things I need God’s name because of the endless struggles despite I know Jesus Name has power. I love the prayer you had and praying things will be clearer now as I name them.
Thank you for sharing your life….
So often when struggling with life, I have cried out “what is going on?” This conversation has helped me to stop and reflect and name what is going on. Naming has helped me create a first step in resolution. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for this message. It is truly humbling and sent chills when I realized that begin specific to God(even though he already knows)was a freedom within itself. Dealing with family addictions, major health issues, loss of two jobs and major incomes, loss of health insurance are things I have been dealing with over the past year. I pulled away from everything and everyone, overwhelmed with all of this, when it was in fact fear, doubt and feeling that somehow I just deserved the pain. Thank you <3
In this season of my life, as I continue to strip away all the masks I’ve worn, I can very much appreciate your conversation! Naming (and removing) the gunk is on ongoing process! Praising God comes very easy for me but the more I become real, the more real my worship becomes! I encourage those struggling with identity issues to allow God to remove the masks, clean out the cobwebs and be who God has made you to be regardless of life around you. I have always been too concerned about what others thought of me, not any more! You can take my God loving self or not! I use to stuff my emotions – not anymore! If you walk away from me because of not liking who I really am, it will hurt my feelings, feelings that I am now learning to freely admit – not to allow them to control me or to wallow in them – but by naming them and allowing them to be recognized and dealt with, freeing me from the need to stuff them, freeing me from the need of masks. God bless you!