You might have an amazing, consistent prayer life. You might have regular deep, meaningful conversations with God.
Nah, who are we kidding? You might suck at it. All your prayers are short little “God, can I have
Then, terror of terrors, it comes time to speak to God in front of other people. The small group leader tells you, “Hey, could you lead us in prayer?” and you quickly look behind yourself to confirm the leader was totally speaking to someone else… and when it turns out nope, it’s you, you outwardly say, “Yeah no problem,” and inwardly freak out a little.
Totally normal.
No, it doesn’t mean you suck as a Christian. (
So if you’re anxious about public speaking—you don’t know what to say, or you did but as soon as you stood up you blanked out, or you’re anxious about what people might think when you mess up, or you feel you might have an utter meltdown and collapse in tears and even your own pee: This is normal. Yeah, maybe we Christians in particular oughta have more courage than this, but it’s normal to not want to speak or pray to a crowd. You’re not a freak. Relax.
Okay, so how do we deal with this? Glad you asked.