If Someone Else Has Done It, Can't I, Too?

I sat across from a woman at a church lunch recently who is a motivational speaker. She lectures to many high school student groups. While I didn't buy all she was saying, there was one phrase from her lips that lingered in my soul these past few days: "If someone else has done something, then you can do it."

Now I don't believe what she said is unequivocal truth. I don't think God has wired me to be a NASA engineer or a brain surgeon. My hunch is that if I were to try supporting my family as an auto mechanic, we would all be very poor.

And I don't buy into this thinking of "you can do anything if you just believe in yourself."

And yet...and yet, my experience has shown me that our self confidence (or lack of it) can deeply impact our willingness to try new things.

I remember the first time that I tried using a computer. We were in St. Louis, training with a team to prepare for a church plant in the Northeast. I needed to write a guided research paper for a Masters degree - -and so I knew it was time to learn how to use a computer. My friend, Dale, let me use his computer at the church we were attending. At that time, the software was DOS -- Windows and Microsoft Word and "mouses" weren't invented yet. And I was intimidated by this monitor glaring at me as I pecked away at the key board . I had to push through my doubts and rely on the encouragement of others in order to eventually master the use of this machine. Today I'm a constant user of the computer as I've written hundreds and hundreds of letters, booklets, e-mails, blogs and even two books.

But what if I let my doubts and insecurities about learning something new hold me back -- and I stuck with hand-writing everything and relied on others to transcribe my scribblings on a computer?

Is there something you want to do that you realize you have some knack for, but you may be held back for some reason? Maybe you want to write a book. Or teach a class. Perhaps explore photography or learn scrap booking. Don't let those internal nay sayers keep you chained to your doubts and reluctance to take risks. Go for it. Try something new. Realize that thousands of others have done what you want to try doing.

Quite honesty, I had my doubts about whether I could start a blog and then sustain it. However, by God's grace, I've written 223 posts as of today. Praise God. There are probably millions of others writing blogs, so why can't I join that number. And perhaps minister to a few folks on this earth that need encouragement, hope and strength in Jesus Christ.

And maybe, just maybe, that by taking this risk each week day to write something on this blog, I've been used by God to motivate someone out there to let God stretch them and try something new -- all to His glory.

Jim