Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:28 — 19.9MB)
Presented by Lauren Stibgen
I think most of us have had moments of self-doubt. That moment when you deeply question a decision or words you used in a meeting or in discussion with a friend. Maybe you are left feeling like an imposter. Imposter syndrome is a term that first emerged in the 1970s. Although I noted that both men and women can experience feelings associated with imposter syndrome, the research was rooted in a study of how family patterns contribute to these feelings in women. The researchers, Clance and Imes, found these patterns were born of sibling comparison, and on the opposite end of these women were parents who overly praised accomplishments and supported perfectionist behaviors. Essentially, self-worth is equal to achievement. It didn’t really matter if the self-doubt was caused by comparison or by over attribution of self-worth with achievement. Both instances had the same impact.
There are also some innate personality traits that lend to imposter syndrome. These include low self-efficacy: a low sense of your own ability of success, perfectionism: overthinking of a situation or your words, neuroticism: which is linked to higher anxiety, tension, or guilt, and social anxiety: feeling like you don’t belong in a social setting.
Feelings of imposter syndrome represent a gap between your own self-perception and the way others perceive you. For example, if someone praises you, you may not believe what they say or feel you have truly earned the merit or the promotion. Playing these feelings on repeat can lead to a pattern of overwork where you feel like you need to become worthy of the role you have, make up for where you feel lacking in intelligence or even hiding from others where you feel most vulnerable.
I would argue these feelings of self-doubt have escalated tremendously with the emergence of social platforms which are used to showcase our personal to professional lives. We live in a world of over curation—thinking about how your comments or pictures “fit” into whatever social or professional landscape you may be traversing in. LinkedIn is no longer the digital resume it used to be. It is a platform for thought leadership where algorithms are fed with impressions, likes, and comments! Ted Talks, new book announcements, a conference, a new position, a promotion. Everything is heralded about our professional lives.
What about when this imposter syndrome creeps into our faith? Do you show up to Sunday service feeling different than everyone? Maybe you aren’t worshiping like everyone else, or you find it hard to understand the message? You feel like you are on the outside looking in? Or perhaps it is the opposite. You serve on many teams at church. You are part of a women’s small group and a couple’s group. You lead student ministry—overdoing it to overcome a feeling that you don’t quite have it all together in your Christian faith…
One Google search of imposter syndrome will bring up many articles from top business magazines. In fact, Harvard Business Review published an entire issue of their magazine entitled, “How to Overcome Imposture Syndrome” in May of 2023. There are countless books that offer “letting go” or a “cure” for this group of feelings closely affiliated with work. All of this sounds very exhausting!
What I love about God’s Word is that I can always find someone whom God has used for the glory of his kingdom that embodies whatever I see in the world today. This includes imposter syndrome. The innate personality trait of low self-efficacy or the low sense of one’s own ability for success can be seen in the Old Testament story of Moses. In Exodus 2, we learn God has heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt. God calls to Moses in Exodus 3:4 by name. What happens next is nothing short of something that resonates deeply with me. Moses is called by God to do something and spends a lot of time telling God how he isn’t the man for the job.
Exodus 3:10-11, Come, I will send you to Pharoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’
God then tells Moses his name—I AM.
Moses’s next refute to God is in Exodus 4:1 What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?
After this refute God gives Moses the ability to do miraculous things like turn his staff to a snake and turn his hand from leprous to healed again.
Yet still, Moses filled with good old low self-efficacy states in Exodus 4:10, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
He implores the Lord to send someone else. Just not me, God!
If you want to read this dialogue between God and Moses, you can turn to Exodus 2-6, and see that God hears Moses’s ask, and sends his brother Aaron to be by his side.
We don’t know what plagued Moses physically. Many say it may have been a speech impediment, but whatever it was, Moses did not feel qualified, and he was filled with self-doubt. So much so, that even equipped with God’s name, God’s gifts of miraculous works like a staff that tuned to a snake, and the assurance that God would be with him, Moses still hemmed and hawed.
I love this story of Moses because it reminds me, well, of me. There are so many times I don’t feel qualified for where I am called, and I so soon forget how God promises to equip me for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training on righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
God’s Word provides refute to all the feelings rolled up with imposter syndrome, but the truth is, like Moses, we are not God and, even if we are in Christ, we still sin. So, despite the goodness we can experience in God’s Word, imposter syndrome can still creep in. But, the frequency and amount of time we spend in God’s Word, can truly help us. In fact, a recent study by The Center for Bible Engagement cites that for those who are in the Word 4+ times per week, we can see a 14-60% reduction in feelings like fear and anxiety.
The first way we can combat these feelings is resting in the gospel. We have seen how over performance and the exhaustion of keeping up appearances can be a part of our nature in combatting imposter feelings. But we are wholly loved and accepted by God in Christ Jesus.
Simply, we are loved deeply by God—so much in fact that he sent his only Son to die on the cross for our sins.
When it comes to work, we are told in Colossians 3:23 that we are to work as to the Lord and not for man. So, keeping our hearts focused on how much we are loved by God and centering our work on him can help take the focus off the anxieties we may be feeling. Remaining in this thinking, we also know God does not want us to do things without reliance on him. He promises us rest.
In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Jesus doesn’t want us to do all this alone.
2 Timothy 17 also tells us that God equips us for every good work. It is God doing the equipping. So, when you are feeling like a fraud, in a way, you are questioning God’s equipping of you. Besides, I would really ask you to think about the true definition of fraud: the new Oxford Dictionary defines fraud as wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
Are you really doing your work with wrong or criminal intention? Reframing the question, are you going to church with wrong or criminal intention?
We also need to consider the beauty of God’s providence and the true identity he has given to us. For those in Christ Jesus, there isn’t luck or happenstance. Things that happen to us at work or in other places are not in the right place at the right time or bad luck. God brings about each moment in our lives- he has promised all of this for each of his believers before time.
Ephesians 2:10 states, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
You and I are his. His workmanship. And all that work—he prepared it for us. All we need to do is walk in it knowing this God’s divine hand made us for the moments that he made.
God chose you to bear fruit for him.
John 15:16 states, “You did not choose me, but I chose you that you should go and bear fruit…”
All of this points to another issue many Christian working women face, and that is their identity. If you are walking around feeling like an imposter, you are likely forgetting your identity according to God. We see a few of the ways that God identifies us above: his workmanship—chosen.
But what else? I tell women I am in community with to walk through the Bible to find specific verses that are meaningful to them regarding their God given identity, but a few of my favorite identity words are: ambassador, holy, beloved, witness.
Back to those books and articles about imposter syndrome for a moment. Their advice is not bad, but I would suggest you look at this through a lens of faith.
Practically, it is important to acknowledge you have these feelings. I suggest confessing them to God! God loves to hear from you in prayer. And if you hold feelings in, it can feel worse!
Psalm 32:3 says When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Don’t be silent! Especially with God.
Find a community of faithful friends that you can share your feelings with and who can pray with you! These connections can help you see your strengths and encourage you. We are not meant to do all of this alone. This community can also hold you accountable to being in God’s Word.
Don’t compare yourself. This is so difficult, but rest in the fact that God made you and predestined your steps! One of our friends here at The Christian Working Woman, Peggy Bodde, has wonderful and practical advice in her book Sacred Work. She reminds us that God wants us to tell the truth about our accomplishments!
But, if you find that the feelings of anxiety or even depression have rooted deeply, there is nothing that God wants more than for you to see the proper care that you need professionally.