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Beyond Ability: Welcome to the Training Ground
339 Plays1 month ago
“What feels like the wrong job or the wrong place may actually be your training ground.”
Beyond Ability: Welcome to the Training Ground
In the last episode of the Vocation Traps series, Lisa and Dan explored how our natural abilities are tools for vocation—not the same thing as our calling. In this follow-up conversation, they flip the coin and dive into the moments when our feelings of inadequacy threaten to shut us down. If you’ve ever wondered, “Did I miss it? Am I in the wrong place? Am I enough for what God’s asking of me?” this episode will help you see your current season not as a dead end, but as sacred preparation.
Helpful Resources:
- Download your FREE Vocation Trap Tracker: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo
- Discover Your Artist Archetype → Take the Free Quiz at soulmakers.org
- Download the Full Artist Archetypes Guide for deeper insight: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo
- Read the article, Vocation's Unbroken Chain: Biblical Call Stories and the
Experience of Vocation by Chris Keeton - Becoming Moses - Bible Project Classroom, Carmen Imes
Connect & Share:
- Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. for more in the Vocation Traps series
- Share this episode with a friend or creative you know
- Join the conversation on socials using #VocationTrapsPodcast
- Join our brand new Instagram Broadcast Channel!
Be. Make. Do. is going LIVE! on February 10th!
Join us Tuesday, February 10th, at 3 pm EST for an exciting, interactive discussion with Dan and Lisa. They’ll be wrapping up The Vocation Traps series of the podcast, answering your questions, and hearing from you! Register Here!
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Transcript
Overcoming Inadequacy
00:00:00
Speaker
In this episode, we're taking a deeper look at the flip side of ability, the moments when our feelings of inadequacy threaten to shut us down. We'll look at God's surprising responses to our self-doubt and explore how to reshape our mindset, ground our identity, and remember that God always equips those he calls.
Introduction to Be, Make, Do Podcast
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello, welcome back to Be, Make, Do, a Soulmakers podcast, where we explore what it takes to live out your call in the arts with spiritual wholeness and creative freedom. I'm your host, Lisa Smith, here with my producer, Danny BH. Hello, everyone. And it is our passion, as always, to encourage you to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make, and do what you were created to do.
Understanding Vocation Traps
00:00:57
Speaker
In this season of the Be Make Do podcast, we're exploring the vocation traps, things like the security trap, the happiness trap, the hero, and the chosen trap.
00:01:08
Speaker
In our last episode, we looked at the biblical story of Joseph and what can happen when you rely too heavily on your natural abilities. but also how his small but consistent acts of faithfulness in a variety of difficult circumstances led to a deep maturing of his natural talents and the development of new ones.
00:01:31
Speaker
His story illustrates how abilities are not our calling, but rather tools to fulfill our calling. Tools that are best shaped and honed over time through practice, faithful discipleship, regardless of circumstances.
00:01:48
Speaker
This time, we're going to flip the coin and look at how God gives us everything we need to break free when feelings of inadequacy and lack of ability leave you paralyzed.
00:02:00
Speaker
All right, let's get started. Let's do it.
Upcoming Live Event Announcement
00:02:12
Speaker
Hey, so I'm so excited to let you know that we are doing another live conversation. We had such a great time last time getting to know so many of you that we're going to set another time on February 10th. It's a Tuesday.
00:02:26
Speaker
I hope you can make it so we can discuss the vocation traps. I'd love to hear all about where you get stuck, but also your tips and tricks for getting out of those traps and getting free. Join us on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 for our live conversation. Head over to our show notes and you'll find the link for the registration and more information.
00:02:47
Speaker
See you there.
The Hero Trap: A Cautionary Tale
00:02:56
Speaker
All right, so on the other side of the abilities coin is dealing with our perceived inadequacy. And this can be seen again in a variety of traps, but it definitely comes out as an Achilles heel in the hero trap.
00:03:10
Speaker
Remember, the hero trap is the one where we get distracted looking at our own abilities and our own muscles and we find ourselves lacking. We become hindered by our own perceived inadequacies and slow to take action or accept responsibility.
00:03:27
Speaker
And we stay stuck feeling guilty or ashamed. If we over-identify with being the solution, we stop listening to the spirit. We stop collaborating. We stop asking for help.
00:03:40
Speaker
And we start treating our work like a burden instead of a gift. Easily relatable, I think. Yeah, definitely. Very, very relatable. Again, it's such a good reminder of like where that creative drive turns into the mission to help everyone.
Moses: A Case Study in Self-Doubt
00:03:56
Speaker
So i want to look at Moses for this one as our biblical icon because he has, i think, such a touching and relatable story when it comes to his fear of not being enough.
00:04:07
Speaker
Now, ironically, unlike most of us, Moses actually does receive a clear set of instructions straight from God. Go tell Pharaoh to let my people go.
00:04:19
Speaker
And we see from his origin story that Moses also has an incredible set of abilities. He's got a strong sense of justice and injustice in the world. He has this desire to make things right. He's really strong. He probably could have been a military leader. He's he's connected. He's the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. He's got a lot going for him.
00:04:42
Speaker
But when we meet him, he's insecure about his identity. He doesn't know, is he an Egyptian? is he an Israelite? Whose son is he Everyone back home is mad at him. he murdered an Egyptian and put the very people he was trying to help in harm's way. So he's run away.
00:04:59
Speaker
And when we meet him, he's lived a lifetime as a shepherd in the desert working for his father-in-law. And then he's doing his thing, one day he stumbles across a bush in the desert that seems to be on fire but doesn't burn up.
00:05:15
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And he hears God call to him, call his name, Moses, Moses.
Personal Abilities vs. Divine Empowerment
00:05:21
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So finally, he's getting this clear, direct instructions on what to do with his passion and the vision that he has. God calls him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, but he's stuck in a bout of major self-doubt.
00:05:40
Speaker
I can't speak well. I can't convince anyone. Who's going to listen to me? My brothers hate me. Pharaoh hates me. I can't.
00:05:50
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Chris Keaton writes, these statements reveal that behind the refusals is moses's overreliance on his own abilities on his ability alone moses knows that he is incapable of the task He has the evidence from this in in the fact that that it was his own inability to relieve the burdens of the Hebrews that got him exiled from Egypt.
00:06:15
Speaker
Moses has trouble seeing outside of himself and so refuses the call. But what Moses misses is that any ability related to vocation is going to be divinely empowered.
00:06:30
Speaker
Like we all have experiences of this. We've all felt this one this at one time or another where we're just, I can't do it for a variety of reasons, whether it's something in our past or we just don't feel comfortable in our, we haven't tested out an ability or we tried it before and we failed. And that feeling of fear about not being enough stops us from really putting ourselves out there, stops us from going for it.
00:06:57
Speaker
like i but I personally have experienced um when I was in college, I was accepted to a very prominent acting school, but I was waitlisted originally, which basically means that you're accepted if if the people that we asked before you don't come to the school, then we'll have room for you, which is actually a great thing. I mean, you go to a school to learn how to do something, so it's not a bad thing to you know, go with a learner's attitude, but it really messed with my head because I was like, I wasn't really who they wanted to be here.
00:07:33
Speaker
I wasn't really like the first choice. And so the whole time i was there, i had this thing in my head that I didn't really belong there, that somebody else was supposed to be in my place. And it, and it really did mess with my self-confidence, which was such a waste of Such ah a waste of a mindset. I mean, I got a lot out of my schooling and I am grateful to have been there and everything that I learned, but um that was totally the wrong attitude to have.
00:08:01
Speaker
And mean, lots of people have experienced this, even very famous, very successful people. One of my favorites is John Steinbeck because I'm a big fan of him as an author and he's written so much but he has many journal entries where he talks about like i'm not a writer i've been fooling myself and other people like even somebody like that struggles with that imposter syndrome in fact i heard i saw something that said that michelangelo when he was first asked to paint the sistine chapel his first response was no i'm a sculptor i'm not a painter
00:08:36
Speaker
Like imagine what we would be missing out on if he had stayed in that kind of sense of insecurity. Yeah, I think the key word that keeps popping up for me is inadequacy, right? So like I think we can all relate to being paralyzed by those inadequacies.
00:08:54
Speaker
What happens is that it prevents us from taking action, especially like what we just learned or what we know of the Moses story. I think what happens is that then that leads to like guilt and shame.
00:09:07
Speaker
And, you know, on the subject of inadequacies, I'm really glad that you use like these iconic examples like John Steinbeck, ah which I did read some of the books in high school, FYI, and Michelangelo, because it makes me feel much more normal about inadequacies when it comes to what I'm called to do in my art.
00:09:29
Speaker
So it's easy to get discouraged by insecurity about our abilities and let that keep us stuck.
God's Reassurance to Moses
00:09:35
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But let's look at Moses's encounter with God and with his self-doubt because his responses are really telling. And I think they're useful for us in our own self-doubt.
00:09:46
Speaker
So this is gonna be our to-do section for dealing with feelings of inadequacy around our abilities. This is the detail of that mindset shift we've been talking about.
00:09:57
Speaker
I've heard it broken down like this before, but most recently I heard Carmen Ives discuss this in her Bible Project teaching session called Commissioning Moses. And you can find the link to that in our show notes as well.
00:10:09
Speaker
But we pick up this story where Moses has received this call from God to go to Egypt through the burning bush, the call to go and do the very thing he was so passionate about years ago— But instead of being excited, he starts stammering out all the reasons why he can't do it.
00:10:30
Speaker
He offers questions and excuses, which are so frequently our questions and excuses. And that's why they're so meaningful and real. So let's look at them and see what we can kind of what nuggets we can get out of this. So the first thing he asks is who am i Who am I to do this thing?
00:10:49
Speaker
Who am I? Nobody would care. God's answer is, i will be with you. So to me, this is a typical God answer. It's not the one I'd want, but it's the one that leads to challenges and growth.
00:11:02
Speaker
So when when Moses asks, who am I? Like God could have easily named all the ways Moses was actually qualified Because he was. And that's what I would want when I say, like, who am I to do this thing? I'd want you, Dan, to say, oh, you can totally do it because you're so good and you have this experience and, you know, make me feel better. But God's answer is, I will be with you instead.
00:11:27
Speaker
Basically, God's answer to our asking, who am I, is basically, it doesn't matter whether or not you're qualified. All that matters is that I'm with you.
00:11:38
Speaker
I will be with you. It doesn't matter how qualified or unqualified we feel. All that matters is that God has promised to come alongside us.
Ordinary Abilities, Extraordinary Purposes
00:11:49
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We have to get our eyes off of ourselves. Ultimately, the most reassuring thing that God can say is, it isn't about who you are.
00:12:01
Speaker
It's about who I am.
00:12:05
Speaker
And I feel like this is one of the most powerful insights that I've ever absorbed, that when I am looking for my identity or I am looking at my ability or inability, that the answer to all of those things is not who am I, but who is God.
00:12:26
Speaker
And that's where I find the real answer about who I am.
00:12:33
Speaker
Now, Moses's second question is who are you? He's talking to God. so first it's, who am i Then it's, who are you? What if I go to the Israelites and say that you sent me?
00:12:44
Speaker
Who am I going to tell them that you are? and God's answer is, i am who I am, or i am whoever I will be, is another translation there.
00:12:57
Speaker
So we keep talking about taking our eyes off of our fears and turning them toward God. This is the antidote to fears about our abilities. We trust in God's provision, not our own strength.
00:13:10
Speaker
God says, i am who I am. i am whoever I will be. Carmen Imes points out that we know who God is not by his name, but by how he acts towards his people.
00:13:26
Speaker
God responds to our doubt about ourselves and even to how God is going to handle things, not by giving us assurance, but by saying, let me show you. Come along and watch.
00:13:37
Speaker
You can't pin me down. I work in my own timing and way. Basically, you have to trust me. The answer to the first question, who am I, is God saying, don't worry, I will be with you. The answer to the second question, God, who are you, is I am.
00:13:55
Speaker
Come find out who I am. And then Moses asks, what shall I say? I'm not any good at speaking. I stumble over my words. You've got the wrong guy if that's what you want. And what if they don't believe me? What if they don't listen?
00:14:13
Speaker
God says, don't worry. I'll give you what you need. I'll be your mouth. And in this, God is telling Moses, lack of ability actually doesn't matter because this is about God's glory, not yours.
00:14:28
Speaker
So God goes on to talk with Moses to show him how he's going to perform divine signs with ordinary things and to make it clear that it's God and not Moses' trickery or magic powers that are are present. It's actually in in Moses' um kind of simpleness that God is able to show his glory.
00:14:50
Speaker
God turns to Moses and he's like, well, what's in your hand? And Moses has a shepherd's staff. And this is the staff that Moses uses to, it turns into a snake. It's what he uses when the Red Sea is parted. It's what he uses when he hits the rock and the water comes out. This ordinary thing that was already in Moses' hands, the simple, ordinary abilities that Moses had been honing as a shepherd are the very things that God is going to use to bring about the the freedom of his people to glorify God.
00:15:25
Speaker
God has already provided everything Moses needs. This is the key to our mindset of believing and knowing that God always equips those he calls.
00:15:38
Speaker
Yeah, I would say if I had to pick one of those questions that I struggle the most with is what shall I say? Yeah. I think that, and and I love the description that you gave, um but even so, like even like with God's answer, it's, um you know I will give you what you need or i'll give youll I'll give you what you need. That's also hard to accept sometimes, you know because then it's like, well, how do you know? That's the trust part. Well, I think that's when that inadequacy is intervening.
00:16:17
Speaker
you know intervening But I think it's so cool though, too. Like, I'll give you what you need, but also like, well, what's in your hand? Like, oh, those are drumsticks. but I bet we could do something with that, Dan. Like, we think that God's going to call us to do something that's impossible and not, you know, that that feeling of comfort of like, he's going to use what he's already prepared in you, which is really comforting, I think.
00:16:46
Speaker
And this brings us back again to circumstances. Like this is the theme that runs through everything. We think so much that circumstances need to be just right for everything to go the way we want to, but they do not need to be right. According to our idea of right, they don't need to be just right for God to use our gifts and bless people through whatever we have to give. In fact, once again, it's being faithful in the everyday circumstances that shape us into who God created us to be.
God's Timing and Preparation
00:17:18
Speaker
And often our motivations and desires and longings come back to us in the form of opportunities when we're not expecting it. but perhaps we're more prepared than when we were looking for it.
00:17:30
Speaker
Like, think about it. When Moses receives this direct assignment, he's fled Egypt. He's kind of given up on it. Again, with Chris Keaton, he writes, he's living a completely different life in the desert in Midian. He marries and has children and becomes a shepherd for his father-in-law.
00:17:48
Speaker
Based on appearances, Moses has just moved on from his earlier desire to relieve the burdens of the Hebrews. Yet, this other life has become an integral part of who Moses is and who he's becoming.
00:18:04
Speaker
It's during the season of shepherding in a foreign land and raising a family that God reminds Moses of his original desire to unburden the Hebrews, as if God was waiting until Moses was ready.
00:18:18
Speaker
God did not call the hot-headed bachelor, but the older, presumably wiser family man. That last line gets me because we so often think we're not good enough.
00:18:32
Speaker
We're too old or we're too young we're in the wrong place, not professional enough, not passionate enough, whatever. But then maybe God only needs us to be faithful and then He'll cover the rest.
00:18:45
Speaker
Like maybe he's already in whatever you're doing now for something that's to come later. And because you can't see it doesn't mean that it's time to quit.
00:18:56
Speaker
It means that it's time to keep working. Yeah. For me, it's so relatable. this that idea of like Moses at this time was just a shepherd, you know, or like maybe inadequacies again of like,
00:19:12
Speaker
this is the wrong job, this is the wrong thing, this is the wrong place, you know? But like, in hindsight, it's like training time, you
Growth through Humble Beginnings
00:19:21
Speaker
know? In hindsight, it's a setup, right?
00:19:25
Speaker
For something that something's gonna be revealed. And I relate to this on a, on a personal level, on a um vocation level, on a what am I doing with my life level. um There was this very significant part of my life where I became a janitor of this church.
00:19:46
Speaker
And at the time i did it because I really wanted to start over to sort of get a, I wanted a redo. I wanted a restart. And,
00:19:58
Speaker
And i i don't take any of that time for granted, but in the midst of it, in in the middle of it, I did feel like, well, what what the heck am I doing? you know and And for me, it was a training ground. It was training day. It was training time.
00:20:14
Speaker
And a lot of things were revealed to me of what my strengths were. um sort of like what my what my gifts were, like going back to the beginning of this episode of the things that I'm good at, but it really led me into that place of leadership.
00:20:33
Speaker
That's what was revealed to me. And I think that's incredibly important. It is. And that is such a great example of that being faithful, showing up, being faithful, giving everything you have in the space that you're in and that then opening doors for other things. Because I remember the day that I was out at ah out by the parkway and and Jay was there and I said,
00:21:01
Speaker
I think we should we should hire Dan to lead our community programs. And he was like, yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. Like it just sort of revealed itself because of the work that you were already doing.
00:21:15
Speaker
It lined up with what God was doing next at Convergence and you were in the right place at the right time because you had been faithful in the little things. Yeah. The bigger things became opportunities.
00:21:27
Speaker
I think at the time, looking back at it, it shows the importance of what seems like humility. a i remember years ago being in bed for months because I had
Finding Strength in Weakness
00:21:40
Speaker
back surgery. And while I was there, i i was really kind of down and out. And it it was hard. I didn't feel good. i didn't have energy. i felt like I wasn't able to really participate at work.
00:21:53
Speaker
But it gave me this time to start to think and plan and plot about soulmakers, actually. And i I just was doing a lot of reading and thinking from the bed i'm working on plans in my head, but I just was not, I couldn't imagine how this could possibly come to fruition, especially because I wasn't even able to do my regular job, let alone do something else. And I was feeling very tired. But then I started seeing God continue to work through the people that were helping me through my meager little efforts. You know, just being able to focus on something for short periods of time brought a lot of clarity. And in that process, I realized that God doesn't need me to be strong or healthy or the best to do what He's going to do.
00:22:44
Speaker
like it's a crazy realization To not need to pray for, i need to be stronger in order to do what you're calling me to do, but to rely on God's strength is what I started to see. that That doesn't mean I become stronger. It means legit I rest in His strength and He doesn't need me to not be weak.
00:23:07
Speaker
For me, that was really, really powerful to just be able to show up the best I can and to trust him and take faithful risk and action. And I i keep that time with me always because i have to remember that even when I do feel strong like Joseph with all kinds of ability and opportunity,
00:23:24
Speaker
To remember constantly that these are abilities given by God that are only made perfect through Him.
Divine Purpose in Hardships
00:23:31
Speaker
They're meant for His purposes, not mine. They're meant to glorify Him, not me.
00:23:37
Speaker
and Just remembering that when God calls us to do something, it's meant to illustrate God's power and He will provide. So ultimately, Moses learns to take the focus off of his own ability and he's willing to sacrifice his own security for the sake of others.
00:23:55
Speaker
Chris Keaton writes, though Moses fled, he would later return wiser and better equipped to fulfill his task. And Joseph, though he would experience more hardship, is eventually able to use his prophetic ability to save the very family that rejected him.
00:24:11
Speaker
In the tender closing of Genesis, Joseph's brothers plead for forgiveness. Joseph begins to weep, not just over the return of his brothers, but over the return of their love for him.
00:24:23
Speaker
Joseph replies, as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.
00:24:35
Speaker
We've all had times where we can look back and say, if I knew it was going to be this hard, I never would have done it. i Or I never guessed where I would have ended up. So I'm glad I did.
00:24:47
Speaker
We have to remember that nothing is wasted and that skill or ability is one thing, but abilities that are refined and honed and learned to be used in that wise-hearted way of God take on a new life and new meaning.
00:25:04
Speaker
And they're used in service to something larger than us and often beyond even our own comprehension. So we have to embrace a proper view of our abilities, not over-reliance or fear of inadequacy, but healthy respect and humility for what we've been given and trust God to work in us developing and adding all that we need.
00:25:29
Speaker
Thanks
Closing Teaser and Event Reminder
00:25:30
Speaker
for listening. Be sure to join us for our next episode where we'll look at the next to-do, Embracing Uncertainty as a Freeing Catalyst for Action with Abraham, Sarah, and Ruth.
00:25:43
Speaker
Join us on February 10th, 2026 for a Be Make do live conversation with host Lisa Smith, me, Dan ABH, and you are Be Make do a Soulmakers podcast community. Register now by heading to soulmakers.org backslash be make do or find the link in this episode show notes. We can't wait to meet and talk with you. See you soon.