I have a story to share with you about public speaking. As a little girl, I was a very shy child. I was terrified of being called on in class. If a teacher said, “Lauren, what’s the answer of eight times eight?” I did not want anyone looking at me. I would turn red and I just didn’t like speaking in front of people. And as I got older, I knew I felt this pull, like I was supposed to practice it, but I absolutely didn’t want to. If I had to give a presentation in class, I would go to the front of the room and I would be shaking and my voice would crack, and it was the worst experience. I would have anxiety about it for days. Well, I want to share that God can absolutely deliver you from that, because He did it for me.
Romans 8:37 says, “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us.” By the time I was 18, I was a senior in high school and somehow landed the position of leading an organization at my school. And part of that role included the hosting a thousand person presentation and event. I had to stand in the front of an auditorium with a microphone and host an entire event. And by that point in my life, I had encountered the love of God. And when I found the love of God, I realized I didn’t have to be afraid, because like Romans says, I had overwhelming victory through Jesus. I gave a presentation, and from that moment into college, I no longer had the fear to speak in public. I no longer was scared to give presentations to a class or even raise my hand when the professor asked a question.
So if that’s you, if you relate to being afraid of having attention on you, or being afraid of using your voice to share with others, I want to pray for you today. God, we just pray right now for this listener and this friend, and we pray that they are filled with confidence from your love and from the identity that you give them. Amen.