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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Remee, your video messages really inspire me. I so look forward to listening to them when i see they have been posted This message had me focused on my own things that need to be named. It is so true about the need lf naming thing so they can be dealt with and let go. watching the video caused me to think about the jealousy i have in my heart towards a terrific friend !! It took the listening to the video…..it literally hit me like a brick….that i harbor jealousy towards her. Everything comes easy for her…or it seems….she is like the perfect Barbie !!!! I have given this over to God, but would like tons of prayer. Hopefully, through God and his plan i can get over this feeling….. NOW IT HAS BEEN NAMED !!!
Thank you for sharing this conversation. Thank you Ann for the gift of your book One Thousand Gifts. The past few years I have watched my parents go through a very hard journey. My Mom has recently done the study and read the book One Thousand Gifts and she has been incredibly blessed in her journey. I look forward to reading One Thousand Gifts very soon. I have already started a blessings box with my three little girls and plan to keep it going!
I went through the Confident Heart Bible Study and have realized so many things about who I am in Christ and how much God loves me. This video made me realize that when I name those somethings positive or negative in my life, I will be set free from the bad things and the positive (gifts) show me that He is always with me in the good and the not so good things. Thank you for sharing this video.
Thank you so much for sharing your story!! Much love!!
Thank you for this ‘porch talk’. This is so true. I and many of my friends were raised to believe that if you spoke something of weakness or negative, that it was not a ‘Christian’ thing to do. It is only after reaching a point where I had to ‘name it’ or be lost in a murky mire that I verbalized the ‘negative’ in my life and claimed victory in the name of Jesus.
Since the silent birth of our second daughter at eight months into our pregnancy, I have had many people say that they do not know how I have coped. It was through complete honesty with God…telling Him the pain and confusion and anger…naming it and then dealing with it. We have since had a baby boy and throughout that pregnancy, I had to name the fear and the anxiety…and give it all to Jesus…
I did not have a name for this, but now I do. Thank you…deeply…
Wow! I so needed to read this today. Been struggling and feeling so down. Unsure just why I felt this way and to read about naming our doubts and fears. That is exactly what I needed to do. Thank you so much for your posts. God has truly used you in a special way!! Blessings!!
Thank you for the encouragement today!! Loved it.
Thank you for posting this. Very timely for me.
I ran and hid from my doubts and fears for a very long time. I wasn’t able to confront them. I was in denial. But what we don’t confront, we will never overcome.
Thank you for a bright warmth in my day!!!!!
Ladies, what you are saying is so true! 🙂 And it makes such a difference to switch our focus off
of the vague darkness, and turn to the Face of Jesus, knowing that even though it may be a while before
we know what the specific darkness is, that even in the dark, He gives comfort and peace until He chooses
to shed His light on it. What a Faithful and Mighty Abba we have!! 🙂
Love this! I never thought about like this before, but it is so true! Just being able to identify that “thing” by its name allows you to immediately turn to Jesus and the truth that He says about you! Thank you both for sharing!
That was an eye-opening message. Thanks ya’ll !
You truly cannot overcome a problem or struggle until you admit it and name it. I am going through a huge personal struggle right now. Just today at a counselling session I was told this same truth. Thank you for sharing your heart and reminding us of this victory that is ours in Christ.
So true; it it good to thank God for the gifts He gives us on a daily basis. Too often I focus on the one bad thing that is happening to me. Thank you for sharing your talk.
I’m trying. I read the book and am going to reread it but when doubt and anxiety and worthlessness have been a proven repeatedly throughout a lifetime…it’s hard to believe God wants to and will change me.
Thank you for reminding me of all the gifts that I have been given that show me that God is taking care of me. As Ann said they go by so quickly, that it is easy to forget them.
Self-doubt and low self-esteem are things I have struggled with and still struggle with. I turned 49 on June 12th, and I find I am still not feeling worthy enough of even myself. I weigh 210 pounds and at my age it is not something I am proud of. there is a lot of emotional abuse that has kept me unable to be successful in weight loss but because of my size, I don’t feel worthy even of my husband and the attention he tries to give me. thank you for helping me ‘put a name on it’ and admit that I have given up on every being worth anything to anyone, even god.
Thank you for revealing this very powerful truth!
Love this!!! When we name things, we can call them out to God and be more able to trust it to Him because we REALLY KNOW what it is we are asking! Again, thank you for sharing!