Impostor Syndrome: Finding Faith When You Feel like a Fraud
I sat down nervously looking around the room, watching the women begin to take their seats at the table. A few of them I knew personally, but many of them I knew by reputation only. Pastor’s wives, ministers in their own right, prayer warriors, fierce women of faith - they were beautiful, strong, and confident, and women I admired greatly. Taking those in my company into account, insecurities quickly flooded my heart. I must be here by some mistake!
When I had first received the invitation, I was honored and elated to be invited to this table to share and to serve, but once I was seated there, I wondered what I could possibly have to offer. Very quickly, my brain tallied my inadequacies. I was the youngest one there, the only one unmarried, and although I had graduated ministry school several years earlier and had been active in ministry, I was only a volunteer - it was not my vocation. Sitting among these women, I felt like a fraud - I felt like an impostor.
Have you ever felt this way too?
Impostor syndrome will downplay your identity by magnifying your insecurities.
Impostor syndrome will silence your voice by convincing you that you have nothing of value to say.
Impostor syndrome will convince you that you don’t belong.
Darling, don’t believe the lies. Satan would love to cripple you in your calling. When you feel this impostor syndrome starting to take a hold on your heart, remember who you are. Remind yourself of what is true.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says this:
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Below are three things you can do when you experience these feelings.
1) Ask God to give you a divine recognition of your position, that you would have a clear revelation of your identity in Christ.
2) Try it with Truth - test everything! Use the Word of God to confront the lies.
3) Remember, it is not about you! Impostor syndrome will bring your focus to what you are not, what you are, and all the inadequacies that you can think of. You are a vessel. You’re not here for you; you’re here for His glory, and His purpose. Let Him work through you. We are all a work in progress.
Today, I’m not that nervous girl who sat at that table paralyzed by feelings of inferiority and fraud. Instead, I recognize that I have something to bring to the table, I have a voice, and a place alongside this sisterhood. I am so grateful that God has me at this table for a season, and I pray that His perfect will be done in me and through me.
I love reading the passages in the Bible that display the kind of questions and insecurities I had. Take Esther for example: a jew, an orphan raised by her cousin, selected to be Queen. Her “for such a time as this” moment looks a lot like overcoming impostor syndrome. Moses made excuses. And there are yet still others we can learn from.
When you find yourself questioning your seat at the table, remember this:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” 2 Cor. 12:9