Find Your Voice
Cowardice can sneak up on you when you least expect it to in your professional and your personal life and cause you to forget where your strength comes from. You’ve been through challenges before, and with each challenge, you have gotten stronger and wiser. When you weren’t sure how you were going to make it through, you learned to draw from the Lord’s strength and courageously keep moving forward. When you couldn’t see the end of the tunnel, you trusted in God and had confidence that He would be the light to lead you through. All of this holds true in every area of your life, for every situation, and covers every circumstance. Keep letting your light shine bright everywhere you go in every circumstance, and regardless of what others are doing.
Often, we disqualify ourselves from opportunities because we tell ourselves that someone else is smarter, wiser, has tenure, or is better suited for the opportunity. Before we realize it, we have accepted assignments that we don’t agree with, have added more to our plate than we can handle, or we don’t voice our concerns with the assignments because we are among the juniors on the team, family, or friend circle. Why do we forget about the previous challenges God has delivered us from? Why do we put more weight in what our co-workers may say, what our family or friends say, or how our boss may disagree with our perspective, and cause an internal struggle among ourselves?
Sometimes we ‘play’ ourselves and allow people to cause us to overthink things. We allow them to make us believe that they have the inside track, or they can get results because of their relationship with people in positions of authority, and we don’t speak up when we should, because we don’t think they will believe us. Have you ever been in position where someone presented your idea as their own to make themselves look good, and you didn’t say anything, because you didn’t want to appear as if you were not a team player or were trying to cause confusion in the family or friend circle because you were new to the team, family, or circle? Have you ever known someone to deliberately try to sabotage your project, or group vacation trip, and you don’t call them out on it?
Decide to eliminate career cowardice and take back control of your voice, your confidence, your courage, and most importantly, your trust in the Lord. Be reminded that when you put your trust and confidence in the Lord, and are led by His guidance, things work out for your good. Be reminded of your confidence and strength through God who can help you find your voice and speak up for yourself. Perhaps you can speak with HR to explore options, speak to a senior family member or friend for guidance. Maybe it’s time to polish your resume and see what other employment opportunities you find, or maybe it’s time to bring up the situation to your family or friends. There are various options, they all may seem challenging or even a little frightening, but if God leads you to it, He will bring you through it decently, and in order.
Call To Action: What do you need to find your voice about so you can put an end to career cowardice? How will you remind yourself of the many challenges and struggles God has brought you through?
The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in and puts his confidence in the Lord will be exalted and safe. ~Proverbs 29:25 (AMP)