Episode 45: How to Start Before You Are Ready

Do you feel like God is calling you to do something? Maybe something you have been procrastinating or you have barely started…

In this episode, I share three ways to just get started even when you don’t feel prepared.

First, you have to overcome perfectionism. Trying to be perfect can be a trap that keeps you from moving forward.

Second, you have to overcome people pleasing. If you don’t follow God first, you can let others’ thoughts keep you from stepping into the calling God has for you.

Third, you must overcome your fears. So, you need to be able to identify what you are afraid of that is holding you back.

With overcoming these, you can just get started on God’s calling for you, even before you feel ready.

Episode Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
02:55 Overcoming Perfectionism
05:43 Overcoming People Pleasing
06:59 Overcoming Fear
09:02 Following God Immediately

Let's Connect!

YouTube: Stephanie L. Jones

Instagram: @only.God.stories

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GivingGal 

Website: https://shineforwardcreative.com/ 

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Like God is calling you to do something. Maybe you even started it and stopped, but when you started, you didn't get very far, like not even far enough to make a dent in what God is calling you to do. Hey, I'm Stephanie Jones. Thank you for joining me back on another episode of the Only God podcast, sharing stories only God Could Write. So today I want to talk to you about how do you start when you're not ready? And I recently have moved into a new home and it's under construction. As you can see, like I've just kind of even got this room made up. And it's really even, I've been putting off doing a new podcast episode because it's like the house isn't ready. And so do you feel that way often? You're like, Stephanie, I know God's calling me to do X, or I have an idea, but I am not ready. And the next thing that comes after is I'm not ready, is a bunch of excuses. So it may be I don't have enough money, I don't have the right connections, I don't know what I'm doing, I've never done this before. Like I want to ask you right now is what is your excuse that you are using for not just starting what God has called you to do. So I want to walk through um three things uh that align to with what the Bible says as it relates to, you know, of just start, just step out in faith. Um, and it's one step at a time. Go back and listen to uh the episode that I did with Nathan Hicks. He talks a little bit about this, um, but I just wanted to drill in a bit deeper because I recently had an experience and it was just such an aha moment for me that I wanted to share it on this podcast. So that experience was I'm in this new house, we're under construction, there's boxes everywhere, and somebody had made a connection and a referral for a potential author. Uh, this gal had a book that she's it's been on her heart for years to write. And so one of my friends said, Hey, you should talk to Stephanie. So she and I get to talking, and I said, and she's from Tennessee, and I was like, Hey, you should like we should do a book retreat, which is something that I love to do when um potential authors or you've got a book idea and you don't know where to start, right? We're talking about that. We don't know where to start. Sometimes you need to uh bring in somebody to help you. But um I said, hey, I do these book retreats, they're like half a day, you should come to my house. And in my head, I'm thinking like this is gonna be October, November, December, a little bit later than the year. But she happened to be in Indiana the end of August. And so I was just like, hey, if you don't mind, my house is under construction, but like, go ahead, come in, I'll have a table clear, like we can get started. Now, I want to warn you whenever you do that, so it's like God's given you an opportunity, um, and you get excited and you're like, okay, I can do this. Now, here's the thing is I've done these book retreats for years. So that wasn't the hard part. The hard part was inviting somebody into my home that isn't perfect, that isn't ready. And that may be what you're feeling right now as you're getting ready to start something is you are waiting for the perfect time, the perfect environment, the perfect fill-in the blank. And that is just a lie from the devil because nothing is ever going to be perfect. I have to remind my writers. Um, actually, somebody I'm working with on a project is as we were doing a coaching session, what she realized is she wasn't sitting down to write because she was waiting for the perfect environment to be able to do that. And her life, like mine, and her like environment that she's in, is a little chaotic right now. And so I just really challenge you is if the perfectionism is holding you back, strip that away and say it is never going to be perfect. I'm just going to sit where I'm at with what I have and just start. So perfectionism can be a trap. I talked in episode 39, is what I also realized is as it got closer to her coming to my home, I wanted to delay it. So you're going to start to see that as soon as you start taking steps to doing what God is calling you to do. Again, you're going to have these excuses, you're going to have these reasons, you are going to want to delay what God is calling you to do. And I have seen this happen over and over again as a pattern of wanting to delay that it's like, no, I have to fight back. I have to say, nope, this idea of delaying is not from God. It is from the devil. And I am going to move forward in what God is calling me to do, even though my home isn't perfect. So perfection can be one of them. The second thing can be people pleasing. I talked about this in episode 39, um, and I used the Bible verse. It is Proverbs 29, 25. The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. And so I like to look at that as like the fear of what this gal was going to think of coming into my home, or maybe a judgment. Um, I have seen many people stop their dreams of what God is calling them to do because of what other people say to them in response to what they feel like God is calling them to do. So it might be like, who are you to do this? What expertise do you have? What experience do you have? Hasn't somebody else, I hear this a lot from authors, is hasn't somebody else already written about that or talked about that? Um, and so these can all be like in that people pleasing in fearing man versus God. So what you need to ask yourself is, am I fearing man? And if the answer is yes, then it's like I am gonna trust where God is calling me. And again, I'm gonna start before I am ready. Now, this next one is you have to remind yourself, I think both in perfectionism and people pleasing, you have to ask yourself this third question of what am I fearing? Or who am I fearing? Because again, whenever we start to work on what God is calling us to do, is all these fears start to creep up. Some of them we may have thought about, but we were so excited, we really felt like this is what God is calling us to do, is we're like, okay, we can do this. But as it gets closer to that time, it you start to have these fears creep up. And so I want to give you a verse. It is one verse that I love and I cling to, and it is a great reminder anytime fear is creeping up in your life of what God is calling you to do. And it's 2 Timothy 1, 7. And it is for God gave us a spirit, not of fear. Remember, we do a spirit of fear does not come from God, but of power, of love, and self-control. And so just cling to whenever those fears, because I I'm like, I cannot tell you how much to be prepared for fears that are going to come up as you step out into what God is calling you to do. So start before you're ready, uh, start before you know you feel like you have all the courage, because you're probably never gonna have all the courage, which is why you have to trust in God. I want to end on this, and this is really why I wanted to talk about this today. Um, and this is important of why you have to be in the word of God, because if you are not in the word of God, is you won't have anything to battle with. You will not know what his word says to remind you of, oh yeah, God has called me to this, but I'm gonna have to battle with what scripture says and not what the world says. And so I was reading in Mark today, and in Mark one, so I just finished up Matthew yesterday, and I started in Mark today, and 17 and 18 says, and Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. Keep reading into verse 19 and 20, and we see this repeat. So always pay attention when you see these repeats within the Bible. It's like, hey, here's a here's direction and guidance of what you're supposed to do. So in 19 and 20, it says Jesus calls them, and he's with James and John. Um, Jesus calls them, and immediately he called them, and they leave their father and the boat to follow him. And what I love about this is it says immediately, but in both times, they immediately left when he called them. They weren't ready. Obviously, they didn't even know what they were being called to do, and they didn't stop and ask all these questions and where are we going and what are we doing and how are you going to use this? And am I prepared? They did none of that. And so it's just a perfect reminder of when we feel like God is calling us to something, immediately take that step. I also find in the immediate, like when you take that immediate step, it doesn't give the devil, you know, that opportunity to start quipping in your ear. Because I think when we pause, so we talked about perfection and people pleasing, when we pause to really think about it, that's when all these other excuses start coming up. Now, I will say one thing that you do need to do is make sure you are praying all the way through this. So um, you know, some things are gonna be very clear and it is just like boom, boom, boom. Um, but other times it's like pray with each step of what God's calling you to do and make it clear that this is where you're supposed to be going. Now, I know there will be times God's gonna leave it up to you. Like you're just like stuff, I don't know which way to go. I don't know if this is the right way. And what I've found over and over again is even if you choose the wrong way, God's gonna redirect your path, he's gonna redirect your step, and he is going to use whatever you experienced or whatever path you went down to veer you back onto. As long as you're following him and you are in the word of God and you are praying and guidance and you are giving it to him each day and saying, I need to follow you, I need your guidance. So I hope today that you know when you think about this topic of how do you start before you're ready, it really is your reliance on only God. It is not on your family and your friends and strangers and what people think and what you think, and being perfect and waiting till the right time. Like all those are external, and you just gotta say, is okay, God, I am only able to do this because of you, and I am gonna start before I'm ready. Hey friends, thank you for joining me today on the Only God podcast. I hope today's story encouraged your faith and reminded you that God is still writing our stories each and every day. If you were inspired by this episode, please share, subscribe, and tell a friend. And to stay connected with me and find out about all my books and resources and events, go to shiningforwardcreative.com. Have a fabulous day.