God Honors Initiative
If you haven’t noticed already, I’ve always been the Type A perfectionist type. The type who is very performance based and seeks perfection in everything she does. While that may sound like a positive for some, in some ways it served as a detriment to me. It was my secret. A tragic character flaw. A security blanket if you will, because it kept me at times from doing what I knew I was called to do. It gave me permission to make excuses to not pursue my God-given vision.
This perfectionism came into play when I was in the midst of re-launching Fearfully Fashioned. To me, everything about my brand had to be perfect. The website layout, logo, quality of photos, the writing -- you name it! It all had to be perfect, and if it wasn’t, you could be sure that it would stay right where it started-- in my mind.
You know what type of thinking this is? It’s called an all or nothing mentality. A mentality that believes that unless you’re fully invested, or everything is perfect, you can't try or take the first steps. How many of us are living out this mindset? How many of us are letting this type of thinking hold us back from what we know God has called us to do?
This is what self-sabotage looks like at its finest. When we subscribe to this mentality, we are shooting ourselves in the foot before we even get started. We let the enemy deceive us into believing that we’re striving for "perfection" when really we are being fueled by fear, insecurity, and inadequacy. We let the enemy tell us that we aren’t qualified to do what God has qualified us to do, so we don’t. We let the enemy tell us that we don’t have what it takes, so we don’t even try. We let him tell us that it’s not going to work out before we even try, so we don’t even attempt; and before we know it, we’ve discounted ourselves from God’s blessings because we believed the enemy’s lies instead of His truth.
If we believed God’s truth, we would understand that God already gave us all the tools that we need to walk in our purpose. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) reminds us, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So if we truly believe this, what is preventing us from taking the first steps?
Perfection is not a pre-requisite to your God-given calling. He wants your initiative, not your perfection. He wants you to trust that if you take the first steps, He will bless your efforts. You can’t expect to see progress if you’re not willing to take the first steps. You also can’t expect to see progress by doing the same thing you’ve always done (which 9 times out of 10 is nothing). That’s called insanity, and that is why most people remain stuck and stagnant for years.
Take the first steps and begin the work. The Lord rejoices to see the work begin (Zechariah 4:10). Stop worrying about the outcome; focus on how you can make little by little progress by taking the next best step forward. You can always go back to perfect and refine, but first, you have to put yourself out there.
You don’t have to perfect your God-given calling before getting started because ultimately it’s not you doing the work, it’s God. Ephesians 3:20 confirms that it is He who works through us:
“Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams] according to His power that is at work within us. (AMP)
When we place our confidence in Him and not in ourselves, we’ll have the healthy realization that by ourselves we can do nothing, but with Him, we can do everything. We just have to take initiative and trust that as long as we take the first step, He will carry it out to completion.
What is the next best step that God is calling you to take? Let me know in the comments below!
