Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

It’s mating season for skunks. I was reminded of this this weekend when I opened my back door, and the smell poured in.

I can remember a couple of years ago when this was a REAL problem.

One Friday night, I came home from coaching wrestling around 9:30. The family was gathered in the back room. We had just purchased new rugs. My wife, Aime, had baked fresh cookies. It was one of those rare, peaceful, Norman Rockwell moments. The whole family together.

…Until our Frenchie started sniffing the new rug.

Being responsible pet owners, we let our two dogs outside.

Thirty seconds later, my daughter says, “What’s that smell?”

Then it hit us.

The kind of smell that makes your eyes water and your soul question your life choices.

I opened the door, and our Boxer was foaming at the mouth, eyes red and swelling shut. Both dogs had been sprayed by a skunk.

The next few hours are a blur.

I grabbed both dogs and ran upstairs to our bathroom. My bathroom. In my bedroom. I put on swim trunks, jumped in the shower with them, and started scrubbing like I was decontaminating a nuclear site.

Tomato juice everywhere. (For the record: tomato juice does not work.)

Meanwhile, Aime is downstairs, bleaching floors, boiling vinegar, trying to save our house from becoming a permanent wildlife exhibit. The boys are outside with BB guns, ready to defend the homestead.

One daughter is googling hotels. Another almost called 911.

Here’s the funny thing, I really can’t smell anything. Seriously. My sense of smell is REALLY bad. For almost 30 years, that’s been a blessing when cleaning up after sick kids. I call it my superpower!

But that night? Everyone was mad at me for not understanding just how bad it smelled.

Needless to say, we slept in the basement that night. The house smelled like bleach, vinegar, and a skunk had a chemical baby for weeks.

And yet 2 days later, I stood in front of my church, ready to preach.

Sometimes we fake it till we make it.

Unfortunately, sometimes we feel like we’re faking a lot more than just a smile.

According to research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, roughly 82% of people experience what’s called “Impostor Syndrome” at some point. It’s that persistent fear that you’re not as capable as people think. That eventually, someone is going to figure out you don’t belong.

Let me ask you a few diagnostic questions:

o   When someone praises you, are you secretly afraid you won’t be able to do it again?

o   Do you compare yourself constantly?

o   Do you remember your failures more vividly than your wins?

o   Is it hard to accept compliments?

o   Do you ever feel like you’re just playing a role?

Impostor syndrome doesn’t just hit the unskilled. It often hits the successful. The driven. The high achievers. The ones who feel the pressure to keep producing.

Underneath it all is the same whisper: “You’re not enough.”

But here’s the truth:

Our weakness is strength in the hands of God.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Jesus says, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

That sounds spiritual and even poetic, until you actually feel weak.

Remember Gideon? He’s in the Book of Judged (in the Bible).

In Judges 6, Israel is hiding in caves because the Midianites have been raiding their land for seven years. Crops stolen. Livestock taken. Fear everywhere. And then we’re introduced to this guy, Gideon.

And where do we find Gideon?

Threshing wheat in a winepress.

This is weird. You see, that’s not where you usually thresh wheat. Normally, you need to throw the wheat into the air so the wind separates the grain from the chaff. But Gideon is doing it inside a pit to avoid being seen.

It’s sweaty, inefficient, and hidden.

That’s when the angel of the Lord shows up and says, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Picture Gideon looking around like, “Who are you talking to?”

Valor? (Remember, he’s hiding.)

But God wasn’t calling out what Gideon felt. He was calling out who Gideon was becoming.

Gideon responds exactly how many of us do: “My clan is the weakest… and I am the least.”

Wrong family. Wrong background. Wrong guy.

And God answers with five words that change everything:

“I will be with you.”

Notice something.

God doesn’t argue Gideon’s résumé.

He doesn’t say, “Actually, you’re more qualified than you think.”

He says, “I will be with you.”

That’s it.

The power wasn’t in Gideon’s confidence. It was in God’s presence.

There are three shifts in this story that matter for us.

First, Embrace who God says you are.

God calls Gideon “mighty” before Gideon ever wins a battle.

Not because Gideon was pretending. Not because God was flattering him.

But because identity precedes obedience.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come.

The lie of “not good enough” runs deep. We try to silence it with performance, approval, productivity. But when you anchor your identity in what God says, the volume of that lie starts to drop.

Second, Take a step of faith.

Faith is not a feeling. It is movement.

Gideon asks for a sign. He prepares an offering. He takes a risk. And God responds with fire from a rock.

Here’s the pattern: obedience often precedes clarity.

We want certainty before we move. God often invites us to move before we feel certain.

You don’t steer a parked car.

Third, Depend on God’s power.

Jesus says in John 15:5, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

That’s not condemnation. That’s calibration.

So many of us operate as if everything depends on us. The job. The kids. The ministry. The bills. The image.

And what we birth out of our own effort, we then have to sustain with our own effort.

But what God births through obedience, He sustains with His power.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”

That’s not denial. That’s dependence.

Impostor syndrome thrives when life is all about us… our performance, our image, our capability.

But the call of Gideon was never about Gideon. It was about who God is.

God reminds Israel, “I brought you out of Egypt. I delivered you. I drove out your enemies.”

Gideon was simply the vessel.

Maybe the thing that has you feeling inadequate right now isn’t about you.

Maybe the job feels too big because it is.

Maybe parenting feels overwhelming because it is.

Maybe the calling feels beyond your capacity because it is.

…And maybe that’s the point.

Because our weakness is strength in the hands of God.

You don’t have to fake it till you make it.

You don’t have to pretend you’re stronger than you are.

You simply have to say yes to the God who promises, “I will be with you.”

That’s where real strength begins.

And in a world full of skunk-sprayed chaos, impostor thoughts, and basement nights, that kind of strength is more than enough.

*Struggling with anxious thoughts? Check out my course "Finding Peace in the Chaos." A 6-week video course to help you overcome anxiety and find peace. You can find this course HERE.