Episode 4 – When You Don’t Feel Qualified: Trusting God When You Feel Unprepared

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Show Notes:

In this episode of Glory and Grit, Stephanie candidly shares her personal journey of feeling unqualified when God calls. She explores how imperfect people are often the perfect vessels for divine work and offers practical insights on stepping out in faith despite fears and doubts.

Key Topics:

The common experience of feeling unqualified when called by God

How imposter syndrome manifests in faith and calling

The importance of humility and maintaining an "empty cup" for God's work

Trusting that God qualifies the called

Reflecting on 2 Corinthians 12:9 about grace being sufficient in weakness

Summary:

This episode reminds us that feeling unqualified is often part of the process of divine calling. God uses our weaknesses, our imperfections, and our willingness. The act of stepping forward in faith opens doors to growth and ministry that we might never reach if we wait for perfection. Just be willing — the Lord will do the rest.

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Transcript:

Speaker: Stephanie

"Today we're talking about something that many people experience in their faith journey, but don't always say it out loud. Feeling unqualified when God calls."

"Hello friends, welcome back to Glory and Grit, where faith meets real life. If you're new to the podcast, welcome in. You might enjoy starting with the first few episodes where we talk about the heart behind Glory and Grit. "

I'm Stephanie, and let me start by saying, I'm really glad you're here. So has it happened to you yet? Has the Lord called you?"

"I'm not qualified to do this. Surely there's someone better than me to do this, right? Maybe you felt it before a prompting, a responsibility or a calling. Well, today we're going to talk about that moment when God calls and our first reaction is doubt. And I'm not the expert teaching this. I'm someone who's walking through this. So let's take this journey together."

"All right, so I'll be honest with you. Starting this podcast is actually one of those moments. There have been lots of times when I think."

"Who am I to be doing this? I'm not a professional broadcaster. I have just a teeny, teeny, tiny bit of YouTube experience and that was for fun and craps, not for my testimony or serious conversations. I'm still figuring out how this microphone works, how to make these lights make me not look dead. So I'm still figuring it all out, but the feeling kept coming back to me that I should do it anyway."

“In the tail end of our mission, which we served for the last two years, I was trying to think of ways that I could continue to have my mission with me at home. So I was thinking about it, I was praying about it. What is something that I can do with my experiences and with my wacky personality that I could still help people stay spiritually connected to God. And this podcast is what kept coming back to me.

There are things that we experience when we get that call and we feel unqualified. And one of those things is imposter syndrome in our faith. Excuse me."

"Like I said, my first thought was, who am I to be doing this? I don't know what to do with this thing. Surely I should leave this to someone who could do it better than I could.

And then we started thinking about impressions. Will people who watch this think that I think I'm better than them? Or will they think that I think I know what's going on and I'm all in the know and I'm all perfect? Will they think that I think that I'm holier than them? All kind of impressions go through your mind. Do I think I have all the answers? When really it doesn't matter what they think when God has told you to do something."

"Then you have fear. That kicks in. That's a whole new ball game of stuff. So you have fear, I'm not good enough. I'm not as good as so-and-so because she or he is way better at this than I am. They know more than I do. I don't know enough. And let's not forget that comparison is the thief of all joy."

"Then you start worrying about will people believe you or will they doubt you or even worse than that is will they doubt your faith? "

"And the biggest, of course, is thinking, I need to wait until I'm ready."

"This is not new. There are even patterns in the Bible when God has chosen someone."

"We even see patterns of this in the Bible when God calls someone. So we're in good company, as they say. "

“I mean, look at Moses. The Lord called him and Moses was like, hey, I'm kind of slow at speech. They're not going to want to hear me.”

"Gideon thought he was the least in his family. So again, who's going to listen to him? What does he know?”

"Esther risk approaching the king when she knew her life was at stake by doing so because she had not been called to see the king.”

“then you have Peter who's just an ordinary fisherman and here's the Lord talking about making me a fisher of men, huh? What bait do we use for that?

“You know, so You're not the first person to think I'm not qualified to be called to do A, B, C, D, whatever that is.”

“The point being God repeatedly works through imperfect people, because that's all he's got down here. right.”

"A gentle reminder that if you'd to spend a little more time on today's topic, there's a reflection guide for this episode available on the website. Yes, yes."

"So what is it that God requires from us? Well, one, willingness. All he asks is that we be willing to do what he's asked us to do. I was more than willing to do this podcast. I just didn't feel qualified enough to do it or nervous about doing it, fearful about doing it."

"God knows you, he knows me. He knows every hair on our head. Okay? He built us. He knows us inside and out.”

“We can try having a little humility. What does that mean exactly? I like the definition from the St. Francis College and it says, humble means seeing ourselves as God sees us, neither touting our successes nor mulling over our failures.”

“Isn't that cool? So we don't have to be out there like, I'm this & that and the other and I've got it together. But we also don't have to be like, my gosh, I failed. I'm such a terrible person, I’m so bad.”

“Humility is being teachable. Knowing that the Lord will be there to pour into us. don't keep a full cup."

"You know what I'm saying?

"Keep your cup empty. Our cup gets full because people are constantly pouring things and putting things in there. you're so talented. you're so beautiful. you're so in shape. you're so smart. you're such a good podcaster. And people are constantly putting things in that cup.”

“But when we are about our Father's business, when we're doing the things that the Lord is asking us to do, we need to pour those things out because those things are superficial. That's what the world would have you think. And that's okay. But we're not, we're not made of that only.”

“So pour those things out and keep your cup empty so that you can be teachable when the Lord asks you to do something. He can pour into your cup, okay? He can pour into your cup all those things that you need to learn, the things you need to think about to help you to do what he asks you to do, because the Lord will never ask you to do something and then not help you pull through to do that. I think that's so cool of him.”

“We also need to recognize that all abilities we have come from him. Again, he made you. He knows what strengths he has given you."

"He knows what your weaknesses are and best of all, he knows how to help you overcome those. Excuse me. It's about being teachable. Remember to just be an empty cup so that the Lord has something to pour into.”

“One of my new favorite lines is, don't think less of yourself, but think about yourself less. Did you get it? Did you get it? As my husband would say, that’s a foot stomper. But you won't hear my foot, so I'll just tap the mic. A Mic stomper. Don't think less of yourself, but think about yourself less."

"And the Savior was a perfect example of that. He was always thinking about others, thinking about ways to help others, to show them the light, to bring them peace and happiness and joy and salvation. so we could just remember that He'll be there. He'll help us get through it."

"You've heard of this quote before I'm pretty sure, step out there on faith. So even if you are feeling unqualified, uncalled, unright, that's not the word, but if you're just not feeling that you were meant or you're able, or you're capable of doing this, just step out there on faith. The Lord will teach you how to go about it.”

“That's how we grow. That's how we grow our faith is by using it. And it helps us learn to just trust God. It helps us to build that trust in Him.”

“Obedience. If He told you to do it, He's going to make sure you can. He will not leave you hanging. Okay? If he said he'll do it, he will.”

“Now...It may not be the way you want it done and it may not be in the timeframe that you want it done, but when he says he'll do it, he will do it and he will help you do whatever it is that he has asked you to. So you could be successful and so that his glory can shine through you. All right.”

“There are some things that I don't know if I would say disqualifies us… but disqualifies us."

"One, pride. Pride will disqualify, knock you out, take you out right off the top. If You are prideful. You are thinking about, know that I'm the best. I can do it. I'm this. I'm that. The Lord cannot work with prideful people because they will not allow anyone to pour into their cup because, they already have a cup full and they think the world of themselves and they are always right. They don't want to know what anyone else thinks or learn a different way to do something. So thinking you know it all and being all puffed up. Your way is the only way to do something or the best way to do it. You don't need any help from anybody. Okay.”

“Another one is refusing to act. this is the right this or that.”

Here's the secret: There is no right time. There is no right person. There is no right fees. There is no right money. There is no right, there's no right anything for the perfect moment. The right time is now when you're asked to do it.”

“Another one is fear. Fear controls decisions. Sometimes I know I did not do a lot of things that I wanted to do before I was in my mid to late 20s because I was always afraid. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of not being able to, I feared of failure. It was a fear of doing it the wrong way, the wrong time, causing the wrong results. Fear will have you standing still your entire life where you will miss so many opportunities. There were so many wonderful experiences that I did not get to partake of because I was afraid of everything about it. You cheat yourself out of opportunities to grow when you let fear stop you because there's growth in failure."

"Another one is judgment. People may think …insert wild thoughts here… blah, blah, blah. Don't worry about how people judge you, worry about how God judges you because that is the only one that really counts. He is loving and kind. He will not judge you unrighteously or harshly when he knows that you did the best you could and that you're willing to do even more."

"If I had waited until I felt qualified to do this podcast, it probably never would exist. A lot of things went out of the way while trying to do this. Early development, plans fell through. Things didn't work correctly. Blah, blah, blah,.."

"And I suspect that the same thing happens in many areas of our lives where we just wait for the right time. Sometimes God doesn't call the qualified. Another one of my favorite quotes, and I hope you’ll remember this one too. God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the call."

"Sometimes he simply asks that you be willing. That's it. Just be willing. But you know, sometimes faith means stepping forward before you're really ready. Just be willing with all the fears and everything else. Just step out there with a positive attitude and a prayer."

"And in case you did not realize this, let me school you. God works through ordinary people. I can assure you that I don't feel fully qualified to host this podcast, but sometimes faith means stepping forward before you feel ready."

"If you're listening today and wondering whether you're capable of what God is asking of you, you're not alone. I'm still figuring things out too.”

“ And sometimes faith is right there in the space between fear and willingness."

"If you'd like to spend a little more time reflecting on today's conversation, remember there's a reflection guide for this episode, episode five available on the website. And also remember that maybe the very place where you feel the weakest is the place where God is preparing to work through you."

"I'd like to leave you with this scripture. It's 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9, the beginning of it. ‘And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness’."

"I'm your host Stephanie. Thank you for joining me today. And remember, glory doesn't come without grit."