3 Steps to Fostering Biblical Confidence as a Woman of Faith

October 14, 2022

Teal background with image of dark-haired woman smiling and holding notebook with title 3 steps to rise into a woman of purpose. stefaniegass.com/blog

Do you struggle with confidence? Maybe you are sick of the worldly, so-called confidence that’s all about you doing it yourself. When the Bible and the world say vastly different things about something fundamental to life and business, it can be hard to know who to listen to. In today’s blog, I chat with Esther Littlefield about fostering biblical confidence and her three-step method to increase your biblical confidence.

3 Steps to Biblical Confidence as a Woman of Faith

It’s easy to think that once you reach a certain point in your life or business, you will automatically overcome your lack of confidence and imposter syndrome. But this simply isn’t true. Unless you choose to address it, it doesn’t get better the further you go along. In fact, it tends to grow with you. To help you unpack this fundamental issue, I’m talking with Esther Littlefield.

Esther runs the Christian Woman Leadership Podcast, which helps women embrace their God-given gifts, skills, and passions so they can lead with confidence. She is also a marketing strategist and business coach for multi-passionate, high-achieving Christian women. After a long journey with no confidence to now helping other women build their confidence, Esther understands that imposter syndrome and lack of confidence is something everyone faces throughout their lives and businesses.

Let’s dive into Esther’s three steps to developing biblical confidence.

Gold splatter background and quote My confidence is not based off my own abilities, my experiences or anything I have done. It's based on putting my trust in God. -Esther Littlefield

1. Know biblical truth to foster biblical confidence

The world offers a lot of advice on how to become more self-confident. It’s all about relying on yourself and your abilities and doing affirmations, saying “I can do this”. But, these worldly instructions don’t fully line up with scripture. And when you rely on yourself, ultimately, it will fail you. Because, as a human, you aren’t perfect; you mess up and can’t always do everything you want.

Instead, you need to go back to scripture and do a deep dive into what God says about confidence. Doing a deep dive into scripture might feel intimidating, but it’s very simple. All you need to do is:

Understand what the word means. A great app for this is the Blue Letter Bible app; it allows you to see what was written in the original language and the meaning of the word in the original language. For example, the word translated as “confidence” comes from the Latin word, which means “with trust.”

Study it in context. For example, the word “confidence” in Psalm 33:20-22 is about trust. So when you look at Psalm 33:20-22, you can see confidence is actually about putting your trust in God, not yourself. All of your abilities come from God, and your basis for trusting God is that He loves you.

Just be curious about what God is saying! And whenever you come across a word like confidence, look at what the word means and then study it in context. There’s no need to overcomplicate it! You can also read a verse in different versions to get more idea of what it is saying.

Teal and gold splatter background with quote When you can get clear on the truth about yourself, it gives you this sense of confidence. -Esther Littlefield

2. Understand the truth about yourself

Sometimes it’s tough to see yourself the way others see you. Many Christian women these days don’t struggle with pride and arrogance because they think too much of themselves. Instead, they often undervalue the gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given them.

If that sounds like you, you can combat this by creating an objective picture of yourself. Here are a few questions to dig into to help:

What has God gifted you with?
What experiences have you had that have brought you to where you are today?
What are the things you’ve invested in to grow, develop and learn?
What are the practical skills that you have? Either self-taught or through some form of education.

You don’t want to do this from the mindset or sense of trying to make yourself better than you are. Instead, you just want to have on paper all of the many things you’ve learned and God has gifted you. You want something you can return to and say; this is the truth about who I am.

When you are clear about the truth about yourself, it gives you this sense of confidence that, yeah, I am equipped to do the things that God has prepared me for; to serve the people I am serving or have the business He has given me.

You must come from a place of looking at the past and what God has already walked you through. It makes sense to feel like an imposter if you are trying to teach something in which you have no history or experience. Go back to where you’ve been and know those are the people you are called to help right now! You don’t celebrate enough what you’ve done; you’re constantly focused on where you want to go.

Navy blue and gold splatter background and quote Go back to where you've been and have the confidence to know that those are the people you are called to help right now. -Stefanie Gass

3. Take action to build biblical confidence

The final and most challenging step is to take action. You can study scripture, align your thoughts with the Truth and look at your skills and experiences but still get stuck in imposter syndrome. Even when you know the truth about yourself and God, you still have to do something about it. And stepping out can be scary!

When you are pivoting or trying something new, it’s very easy to get caught up in imposter syndrome, wondering if you are equipped, qualified, or experienced enough for the new thing. It may feel easy to charge for the services you’ve delivered before, especially if you have a strong history of delivering results. But, when trying something new, the only thing you can do is put yourself out there. It isn’t until you put yourself out there and take action that imposter syndrome starts to fade away. Tell your audience or the people around you, hey, this is what I’m doing now! The more you take action, the less power it has over you.

Navy blue and gold splatter background with quote It wasn't until I put myself out there and took action that imposter syndrome started to fade away. -Esther Littlefield

Trusting God over yourself

Confidence is an ongoing process. It’s not a one-time project. As you go through these steps, you’ll probably find that you’re gaining more confidence and feeling less imposter syndrome. But when you step into a new phase, you’ll have to work on it again. It’s a battle; you must align yourself with God’s word, the truth about yourself, and then take more action. Don’t give up, and keep moving forward!

If you have been encouraged by Esther and want to learn more about her, check out her website. She has two podcasts and a free guide that will walk you through getting more confidence which you can check out here.

It takes a lot of intentional, ongoing work to trust God over yourself. But if you align your heart with God’s truth, take an honest inventory of your skills and abilities, and then take action, you can kick imposter syndrome to the curb! It’s time to show up confidently in your calling and become the woman of faith you are meant to be.

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

P.S. Also, listen to podcast episode 508 for the full training on 3 Steps to Fostering Biblical Confidence as a Woman of Faith!