Do you know if they give “bad blogger” awards? They should give them to people who say they’re going to do a great give-away on their blog, and then they don’t show up until that night to do it – when everyone has logged off their computers. 🙂
Ok, so here’s the honest truth. A bunch of things came up today that I embraced as great excuses for not writing. Why? Because I knew I was going to tell you something that if I tell you, then I’ll have to follow through and do it. And that kind of accountability made me want to change the plan.
It’s that whole stinkin’ doubt thing – you know those thoughts that make you question if you can really follow through on something you feel called to do.
So I am just going to say it…I sense God is calling me to write a book – about DOUBT!!!
I’ve prayed about it, thought about it, spoke about it, been encouraged by friends to write about it, and you better believe I have also doubted it. But now I am going to quit talking, quit doubting and do something about it! I said it. Yes I did! (Whew)
Well, I never ever thought my first book would be on doubt, and honestly I don’t want it to be becauseI’ll be tested in it again and again. Yet, God has allowed doubt to be a struggle most of my life which allows me to write about it from personal experiences and from a personal expression of His life giving power that has been available to me when I BELIEVE.
I pray that these last few posts have somehow encouraged you in your journey, in seeing God’s protection, preparation and process of calling in your life. My hope that is in sharing my story you will see more clearly into yours.
This week I am going to work on my book proposal and I really want you my bloggy friends to be part of this process. Lysa was just asking me the other day if I had thought about getting your input. We talked about how doubt has cast its shadow on all of us, but it affects us differently. So, this is where you come in – and that great give away I promised!
I’ll do a drawing from the comments on this post and any that follow through Wednesday at midnight. Thursday morning I will announce the winner of a $20 gift card to Starbucks, Target or Wal-Mart! (winner gets to choose)
Here is the first thing I’d love to know: How does doubt affect your life?
You can post your answer by clicking “comments” below. Please list your email so I can get in touch if you win. Also, be sure to come back as I’ll be posting other thoughts and questions through Thursday morning.
Discover more from Renee Swope
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
When doubt speaks its whispers into my mind and heart, I almost always speak its echo. Rarely do I process things quietly. Thus, doubt affects my language and my voice. Sometimes it comes out gently, but more than not, it comes out loud.
Doubt can be paralyzing for me. It’s all-consuming and can force me to find my “quit” quicker than anything else. When this happens, it trickles down into every other area of my life.
Just some initial thoughts.
peace~elaine
Renee,
Doubt makes me lazy. When I’m filled with doubt I just don’t do anything. My thinking is, “why bother?”
Paula G.
[email protected]
Interesting that you are talking about this…I have a heart to want to adopt waiting children. But I also want to do more than that. I want all waiting children to have homes. I just heard on FOTF last week about a place in Texas called, http://www.riobend.org. That is the model I want to build….I just told my husband that I will need encouragement. I have prayed and prayed, but I still know satan is going to attack me, and tell me it won’t work, it is stupid, just give up, it is easier to pray that to put my feet into action.
There is this place about 3 miles from me. I call it my mansion on a hill. It is an older home. Sits on a chain of lakes. It used to be an assisted living home, that has now sat empty for quite a few years. So it needs lots of work done on it. It is way out of our reach financially. My husband told me to start small with that house, we can foster care/adopt, (we have five children of our own), and let things blossom from there…….So in my self doubt moments, I have to self talk positive…..This will stretch me beyond beleif, and that scares me…..No one even knows about my plans other than my husband…..So I need to “come out of the closet!”
Blessings on your book. I guess I will be first in line to buy it when it comes out…..Guess I am out of the closet with your bloggy friends! Ü
Shannon
Doubt causes me to withdraw and think that I am not good enough, so why even try. It causes me to focus on the “I never”. It brings back all the failures of the past and times when you felt that you didn’t measure up to others. It makes you feel worthless and inferior….
All right I think I will quit there so I don’t end up depressed! 🙂
Hope you have a great day Renee.
Blessings,
Pearls
Hey Renee!
I will be buying a copy of your book to read over and over again.
Doubt continues to effect me in the area of writing. In fact I was just posting on my blog about it tonight. Doubt says, “Lord, I’m not creative. I can’t write eloquently.” Doubt also says, “Who am I? What do I have to share that 1,000 other people haven’t already shared?”
The Lord gently reminds me that because He brought me out of darkness into His marvelous light, I CAN tell others about His goodness. He reminds me that because He is creative and His creativity resides in me… I am creative. He reminds me that my story is different because I’m different.
Doubt is a tool that the enemy tries to use on all of us to hold us back from doing what God has called us to do. WRITE!
Thank you so much for your thoughts. Thank you once again for the message you shared at She Speaks that continues to impact my life. Thank you for stepping past your doubt to be used by God!
Blessings to you!
Bonnelle
It is almost 10pm here and I’m just logging on for the first time since this morning. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your callings and your heart. As for your new book subect… Doubt paralyzes me in many areas of my life. Insecurity, indecision, irrational fear… especially in writing. God has used this little blogging community in redirecting my path back to writing. Maybe I’ll keep some notes specifically on the doubts (as they are sure to keep hammering me) and send them to you as I follow my commitment to write.
Here’s a thought. I’ve known for awhile that I tend toward immobility because of insecurities and indecision. I don’t think I’ve ever traced it back to doubt. Guilt, sin in general, fear, but not doubt. Seems that doubt would be fairly easy to cure. If we are trusting our Lord, should we doubting? Although the eagerness to please and wanting so much to do the right thing and do what you’re suppossed to do… Hmmmmm Have fun writing that book! Glad it’s not me. 🙂
Jenny
[email protected]
Hope. That first beam of shining sunlight that can only be noticed at the end of the darkest night. That first glimmer of light is only detected if you’ve clung to faith while it was still dark, and watched with wide eyes even while nothing could be seen…”being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see”…( Hewbrews 11).
For me, having this kind of faith is a trial by trial, decision by decision way of living. I wish I could say that choosing faith always comes easy for any christian; that doubt is overcome once and for all in that sweetest of moments when we choose to submit out lives to Christ. The difficult truth is that there is not a once and for all cure for doubt until His return. The lovely truth is that if we seek, if we choose to keep our eyes wide during those darkest of nights, He will replace seeds of doubt that we have tucked away in our hearts with the light of hope that grows brighter with each step we take in its direction. And with each step we make toward that light, faith over takes more territory in our hearts, equipping us with greater strength for overcoming.
This is the lesson God has been working in me for at least 2 years…
Making the choice to wait on Him, watch for Him, and call to Him even when I can not hear his voice clearly responding; even when my hope is sliced to shreads… ( or more like one shread), it is always a choice. Sometimes, a choice of the will, followed by a choice of the heart.
This topic hits me in just the right spot.
I am so blessed to know that He has placed this book in your heart. He will give you the tools to place it on paper…and I for one can’t wait to read it! Yeah! Write it sister!
Jill Harriott
[email protected]
When I doubt God’s intentions toward me are good, it’s crippling. It makes me afraid of everything, and unable to process success or failure the way I should.
Doubting that God is real is an EXTREMELY rare occurrence that is only a fleeting thought, if that. No, He’s real, all right, but the temptation I struggle with is to doubt His love for me… It’s a more sophisticated than just to say He doesn’t love me. The voice from the pit (that sounds amazingly like my own voice) just tells me He just doesn’t love me as much as He does other people…
It is an exhausting thing to have to fight against. I’m less easily victimized by it, and I feel like I may actually get over it for good one of these days.
Okay, you’ve only had your post up for an hour and you’ve already gotten enough good input and feedback to write your whole book.
Mercy alive… these comments are amazing.
You just gotta love whoever suggested the question that prompted these answers. He he he.
Off to shine my halo… which is sure to slip down and choke me at any minute.
Must be his perfect timing Renee! I have to admit I simply laughed out loud when I read, “honestly I don’t want it to be because I’ll be tested in it again and again.” Laughing with you because I’ve had those same thoughts.
I also remember you saying something like, “why does it have to be so stinkin hard!” AMEN sister, yet I know that the hard is what makes it so stinkin good.
So how does doubt affect my life? It derails me, shifts my focus, tells me I’m not good enough, strong enough, pretty enough, old enough, smart enough, articulate enough, eduated enough, experienced enough to accomplish anything for Him. And most of the time, my first response is…you’re right.
How long I remain there lessens a bit each time, but my self-worth always goes there first. That is, until I consider the source.
When we can know, stand on, and call upon all that we have been given in position with Him, the other voice fades to silent. We have been given tools to fight and we have a Big Daddy who’s got our back (aka If God is with us, who can be against us).
Funny how it’s easy to write now, yet so easy to forget in the moment, better post this somewhere.
Thanks again for your pursuit of Him Renee! [email protected]
Sometimes there’s an advantage to being on the left coast! (It’s still broad daylight here.)
At the moment I’m kind of experiencing second-hand doubt. We know God brought us here to this ministry, but due to the doubts of others, there is more uncertainty than I even care to look in the face. Their doubts have caused DH to doubt not just where we are, but his calling altogether. So even though I don’t live in this place of doubt all the time myself, it creeps in like the coastal fog and has laid a dark blanket over our summer. And as much as I dislike the heat, I could go for some blazing sunshine (or Sonshine!) soon.
Interesting topic for your book! I can relate about not wanting to live it while you write it. I can say though, when I was going through daily doubt when writing my first book (my last thing I heard as I drifted to sleep and first thing in the morning was “You can’t write a book, you can’t write a book.”) once it was complete, I never heard that voice again.
It’s my bet that the act of obedience that will bring this book to fruition will also bring you victory in this area. I’m so excited for you!
Doubt paralyzes me. It keeps me from taking action in areas I need to be actively trying to work on in my life. And from there, it all spirals downhill until I feel defeated and hopeless.
Oh Renee, I’m so excited for you…and so pleased you took that step of faith to share what God is saying to you. OH man, I have so been there. It seems like as soon as you voice something like that IMMEDIATELY your mind fills with doubts – what if you’re wrong…what if it wasn’t God…what if it never happens…what will everyone think…it’s endless the questions that begin to attack.
Just thinking back to my flight home from NC when the plane “rocked and rolled” all the way due to the storm we were flying in at the time. My thoughts wanted to doubt my safety…but I had to remember and claim God’s Word to me before I left – “I will watch over your coming and going…” God was well aware of my situation. He had not abandoned me. “Sometimes He calms the storm and other times He calms His child.”
Circumstances can make us doubt because we only see the present and we wonder how on earth things will change. We see the rejection. We see the disaster. We see uncertainties. We see the now. God sees the tomorrow.
Continual obedience counteracts doubt. Keep following what you know, and even though the journey may be longer than expected, in the end I just know you will experience God in so many new ways as you trust in Him.
Love, hugs and prayers,
Joy
PS. Loved the Beth Moore quote!
Hey Renee!
Let me know when your book is out, I will definitely buy it!
Doubt has won in my life numerous times, I wish I could say the opposite. For me doubt comes in the form of a nagging little voice inside my head… You know, the one that says, you can’t do it, God didn’t mean for you to be the one, you’re not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, the list goes on and on. It’s when I let that nagging little voice, become a reality, that I surrender to it. It’s funny when I’m rehashing all the reasons why not, that my emotions start to support my doubts. My heart starts pounding, my hands get sweaty, I have a hard time breathing, and I start convincing myself that I really CAN’T physically do what I felt I was supposed to do. I guess that’s what the Lord means in the Bible when He talks about not walking according to the flesh! Our flesh can really keep us from obeying God. But, I truly believe that it starts with doubt.
On the positive side, when I squelch that doubtful voice and step out and do what God has called me to do, He truly takes over! Sometimes I don’t think that it always goes the way I think it should, but God knows best! And the feeling that comes from taking the risk and obeying God, is like no other! When I’m at that point, I literally “do a little dance” with God!(from “Evan Almighty”) I just wish I didn’t have to battle the doubts, especially when it comes to certain areas. The ones that pull me out of my comfort zone, and cause me to question just why God would want me to be the one in the first place.
Thank God for His patience and grace! I’m so glad He’s not finished with me yet! Renee, I have needed this post so much lately, God is nudging my husband and I in a different direction ministry-wise, and I’m facing some fears from the past that I’m having a hard time pushing through. Thank you for being real, and showing all of us out in bloggy world that we’re not alone. God is good! Lots of love, April
Renee,
Thank you for your blog. It is funny I was out this evening and wanted to get home to read the rest of the story. Doubt is huge for me, especially when I am not sure it is really God’s will. It has been the case when I have “doubt” that it can be traced back to my own fears of inadequacy. So I ask my self this question:
Do
Others
Usually DOUBT
Beat
This
Most of the time my fears are unfounded and it is what the Lord wants for me. I know for me I am always working on self doubt. Hope this helps.
Wow! Talk about a posting knkniocg my socks off!
Okay I’m convinced. Let’s put it to action.
l’appunto serio da fare sarebbe quello del modo di marcare in area…io nn marcherei mai a uomo sempr a zona….schiero la mia difesa e copro tutta l’area..la palla allà adda passa!!invece se marchi a uomo ti puo capitare quesllo che è capitato a noi…Ludo sui calci piazzati noi non marchiamo a uomo ma alla cazzo di cane
If you’re like me, you’re well used to navigating the world with a GPS mapping app on your T810 Watch. But have you ever given a thought to the work that goes into getting all that information into the map?
I don’t think the ending ruined it. There needs to be a 7th book! I mean the end could be the end, but it keeps you thinking.. “oh, what happens next?” so it would be great if there was a 7th book.
8-12-12edy spune: am downloadat placa video de pe saitu de mai susu spus de tocilau ii dau sa se instaleze se instaleaza si la jumate im ida erare asa :setup was unable to findcomponents that can be installed on your current of software configuration .Please make sure your have the reguired hardware or software ce inseamna asta ma ajutati va rog +37V-a ajutat acest raspuns?
I don’t really know, but I’ve always opined -On days when you’re feeling alone and maligned,Diminished and broken by life’s daily grind,You’ll feel better after you’ve wined and you’ve dined.
Can’t wait to read the book!
As far as the question, I’m afraid if I gave you the complete answer this would be a book! Honestly doubt is a tool satan use far too often in my life – especially doubt about myself and abilities – you know the lies we tell ourselves. I too have to focus on God and what His word says. Being surrounded by fellow believers helps as well.
Renee I will be praying for you as you journey ahead with this book. I’m sure God can use your story to help all of us in the battle versus doubt and at the same time realize satan will do all he can to keep that from happening. Stay strong and remember as the prayers go up the blessings will come down, Jill
[email protected]
Hi Renee,
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself and your journey. Right at this very minute, doubt is asking me what right I have to lave a comment on your blog. Why would anyone care what I have to say? That is where Satan works on me. I have a thirst for God’s word, and sharing it with those who need to hear a particular scripture. The Holy Spirit often whispers the one in my ear that I know needs to be said. Then Satan whispers in my other ear all the reasons I shouldn’t say anything. None of my business, don’t want to offend anyone, I’ll come across like a Holy Roller (Amen to that!)If the evil one can plant a seed of doubt, it will fester until I get back into God’s word and read how much He loves me. Anything He whispers can’t be drowned out by Satan. At least not for long.
I’m checkin’ in too!
I have always doubted myself. Being a victim of abuse will do that. More recently, being a cancer survivor will make you doubt every lump you feel, every itch, every sore and every cough you have for more than a week. Hearing a diagnosis that means you will have back pain for the rest of your life will compound it.
How do I combat it? Speak truth into it. Speak the truth that God sees you as the perfect woman He created you to be. Speak the truth that Jesus is the Great Physician and He alone receives the glory for healing you from cancer, and He can heal you from back pain if you allow Him to.
Am I there yet? I know I am beautiful in God’s eyes. I know that God healed me from cancer, but I still have moments of fear when I feel a lump, or have an itch, or start coughing without relief. I have the understanding that He can heal my back and end the hurt, but unfortunately, I lack the faith to completely trust that He can do that at this time. But I am working on it!
Thank you Renee for being open and honest on your blog. It has helped so many women to know God still loves them.
carlyn
[email protected]
After hearing your message at She Speaks, I am very excited about your book! I will buy it FOR SURE!
How does doubt affect my life?
It steals my joy, fills me with worry, and generally makes me a whiner in my prayer life and my relationships.
The evil one is always telling me lies to try to stir up doubt.
A colleague does not return my call. My doubtful heart believes the worst–that she is blowing me off and does not value my input in department decisions.
My friend never invites me to lunch even though I have invited her several times. My doubts taunt me with thoughts that my friend merely tolerates me and doesn’t value our friendship.
I received a rejection letter from a magazine article submission. My doubt tells me that I have no talent and nothing to offer.
Those examples are just a few of the joy-stealing doubts I have struggled with over the past few months. I could go on, but I think you get the point! 🙂
I pray that your book will be published so that God can use your message to help people like me overcome and release all doubt all the time. Bless you! [email protected]
Hi late night bloggy friend! I haven’t turned off my computer yet!!! 🙂 🙂
Now to your question. The root of all doubt in my life is a mean little thing called FEAR. It can consume me if I let it. I continually have to repeat what I know about God. What His Word says about His love for me and His provision for me. It’s more than just positive thinking; it’s God thinking.
Doubt is from the devil plain and simple. It’s a distraction to get us off the course God has planned for our lives. There are a million different examples floating around in my head, but I don’t have the time to share them with you.
I hope to come back and get a little more detailed with examples. Until then, have a blessed night!
Thanks again for the encouraging comments on my blog. They meant the world to me! You are truly a wonderful encourager!
Prayers and Blessings