How to Attack Panic
“They want my parenting advice?” I laughed at being asked to speak on a parenting panel for our church. I’m proud of how my boys have become responsible young adults. I prayed hard they’d discover their passions at an early age in which to direct their energy. However, there was a time when it was an amazing feat for me to make it through a parent-teacher conference without crying. I used to cringe when the phone rang because it usually meant a teacher or principal was on the other line.
Why would anyone listen to me?
I sweated out what questions would be asked by the audience, and how I would respond. People say they get butterflies. I had a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds flapping in my stomach. I stressed over saying the wrong thing. Public speaking is different than writing. There is no delete button. I can’t go back and edit my words. What was I thinking agreeing to do this?
The day came, and questions were asked, and the panel handled them open and honestly. There wasn’t a question posed that someone on the panel hadn’t dealt with already in a lesser or greater extent. I got to talk about my boys’ struggles and how those challenges have developed their perseverance and character. People came up to me later and actually thanked me.
Like the conductor of an orchestra, God directed the entire thing.
Moses felt the same insecurities when God asked him to speak to Pharaoh and lead his people out of Egypt. He doubted whether he was the right person. He told God no one was going to believe God sent him, that they’ll think he’d hallucinated or something. He then complained that he wasn’t a good public speaker and even begged God to send someone else.
Moses was dealing with over anticipation. We make things into more than they are and blow it out of proportion. We panic and work ourselves up into a hailstorm of “what ifs” that leave us paralyzed in fear. My favorite of God’s answers was when Moses implied he was clumsy with words. God asks Moses, “Who makes mouths?” He then tells Moses, “Go … and I will tell you what to say” (Exodus 4:12).
God will not send us out ill-equipped. He will ask us to do things out of our comfort zone, but He won’t send us without providing means and resources. We must trust God to give us the boldness, confidence, and words at the right moment.
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