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When You Feel Like an Imposter

Today I welcome my dear friend and fellow encourager, Crystal Twaddell to #ChosenandWorthy. Her heart is beautiful and her words powerful. The words she writes today are just for you.

It is to anyone stepping into a new season or a long awaited dream and instead of relishing the moment, you find yourself feeling like an imposter …



When You Feel Like an Imposter - Often the greatest roadblock to walking in the freedom of chosen and worthy is US. Our shame, our labels and our unbelief. #ChosenandWorthy by Crystal Twaddell for Lori Schumaker

Imposter! The label rang loud and clear through my brain, and in its heels, what quickly followed were declarations that sent my spirit spiraling.

I shouldn’t be here. 

I’m not qualified. 

I don’t deserve this.

They are going to find me out.

It’s going to all go south.

I’m an imposter!

For several months, the sabotaging missiles bombarded my thoughts and emotions faster than the saner side of my mind could process.

A month earlier, I had finished two significant job interviews in the same week. One was a challenging position in a growing 6,000+ member mega-church and another a position in higher education at a Christian university.  Both were amazing opportunities … for someone else.

So when I received the call to hire from both within days of each other, I was astounded. And that’s the moment the all-too-familiar seeds of unworthy to be chosen sank beneath the soil of my heart and began to take root.

When did the seeds of unworthy-to-be-chosen take root in your life? #ChosenandWorthy #identity @CrystalTwaddell Click To Tweet

Identity lies are never respecters of age. And just because we deal with them when we’re younger doesn’t mean they’ve given up the fight.  Often they return with a vengeance; attacking in the midst of a blessing we so desperately hope for, until we find ourselves questioning if it’s really meant for us.

Sometimes slipping back into the labels that lies stamp on our heart is as easy as slipping into our favorite comfy sweatpants.

Until it’s not.

Years ago, when pursuing my degree, I dreamed of positions like these. But when I became a mother, I made the conscious and satisfying choice to tuck away my schooling and be a full-time mother to my three children.  It’s a decision I’ve never regretted and would never change.

But I’ve also long been conscious of the fact that as the children grew older, one day I would choose to work full-time. And I feared being labeled as irrelevant and unqualified. I feared the world would be unaccepting of me and punish me for choosing a different path.

I failed to realize that my identity has nothing to do with the world and everything to do with God.

Now, many years later, I realize that I also believed I was unworthy of such a blessing from God. Deep down, a little lie took root that said I had not chosen wisely.  I had become too comfortable in my own label of being “just” a mom, even though I fought tooth and nail to never allow anyone else to place this label over me.

The truth is that we can become so content with the labels we place upon ourselves, that we have great difficulty removing them even when God takes a black Sharpie and writes a new label…a new identity.

If we’re not aware of our self-imposed labels, we risk missing out on the plans God is working out for us.

We can misread them, cast them off or explain them away instead of embracing them as God moving to prosper and give hope.  And we can actually sabotage a very good piece to our life’s puzzle.

Now is the time to stop self-sabotaging! #ChosenandWorthy #identity #Imposter @crystaltwaddell Click To Tweet

For months, I kept waiting for someone to call me out and tell me I was unqualified.  I expected to hit a roadblock at almost order nolvadex every corner because I declared myself an imposter. With every meeting, project or presentation, I expected so much less than what I received.

When You Feel Like an Imposter - Often the greatest roadblock to walking in the freedom of chosen and worthy is US. Our shame, our labels and our unbelief. #ChosenandWorthy by Crystal Twaddell for Lori Schumaker

But it never happened. Any shameful outcome I conjured up under the darkness of my labels never came to fruition.

Instead, I found myself in a position so profoundly and beautifully matched for me that I knew this could have only come from God.  It didn’t matter how I got there or that I took a much different route than most.

Through all those years, God never stopped using each and every circumstance to grow me toward this opportunity – toward His plan for me.   I was already declared worthy and I was already chosen. For motherhood, for this, for now.

Now 4 years later, I’ve learned some valuable lessons about identity and labels.

When God declares us worthy, it’s not up for discussion.

When God gives us a new identity, He calls us to embrace it, believe it and own it.

When God chooses us, He always makes a way.

My friend, are you wrestling beneath the weight of self-imposed labels? Have you made choices that make you feel unworthy and unchosen? Are you allowing the world to place labels over your life that simply don’t belong in light of God’s declarations of who He says you are?

Often the greatest roadblock to walking in the freedom of chosen and worthy is US. Our shame, our labels and our unbelief. 

When You Feel Like an Imposter - Often the greatest roadblock to walking in the freedom of chosen and worthy is US. Our shame, our labels and our unbelief. #ChosenandWorthy by Crystal Twaddell for Lori Schumaker

Often the greatest roadblock to walking in the freedom of chosen and worthy is US #ChosenandWorthy #Identity #Imposter @crystaltwaddell Click To Tweet
But when we make the conscious and sometimes daily choice to believe in God’s favor over us and His unfailing love for us, we begin to experience an identity steeped in unconditional love and confidence grounded in the truth of God’s word.

We can stand tall, moving forward in whatever path God calls us because we know He is ordering our steps. He is making a way for the work He began in us.

He’s using every little piece of our life’s puzzle because we’ve been chosen and declared worthy in and for Him.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. -Deut. 7:6




Crystal is an advocate of living outside of comfort zones as a means to unlocking hidden potential and experiencing God’s wild and uncontainable love.  She writes on combining a little bit of intention with a lot of passion to create an overwhelming legacy of hope.  She is the proud mother of a Professor of History, a Worship Pastor and a soon-to-be Biologist and also loves fresh markets, lattes and all things French.

You can connect with Crystal through her Blog and also on Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest.



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22 Comments

  1. dawnklinge says:

    I love this so much. “When God declares us worthy it’s not up for discussion”. Thank you so much, Lori and Crystal, for this beautiful encouragement today!

    1. I loved the boldness of that awesome TRUTH, too, Dawn! Thank you, friend, for stopping by!

  2. Oh Crystal! How beautiful! I have never really consciously considered this but can wholeheartedly now agree. You put words to the shame we mindlessly live with too often. Deep down we feel so unqualified for whatever God is calling us to AND what He has done for us. We skew the line of knowing we truly can’t walk in His purpose for us without fully relying on Him with feeling inferior and unworthy. You explained it so well and I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to see myself in it:) thank you Crystal!

    1. Yes Gretchen! I often wonder how many God-filled opportunities we shrink away from because we choose to hide in the shadow of this lie instead of choosing to step into the light of all God say we are. I know I’ve done this too many times to count, and it’s simply a huge loss of a blessing for us and those God has called us to impact. Thank God for his continued pursuit of us!

  3. mareedee2016 says:

    “The truth is that we can become so content with the labels we place upon ourselves, that we have great difficulty removing them even when God takes a black Sharpie and writes a new label…a new identity.” Yes, yes, yes. Change is so difficult when we are glued to our labels. Great post!

  4. Shame is such a thief! Thanks for encouraging us to shake of those shackles and walk in full freedom, Crystal. So lovely to see you here at Lori’s!

  5. I love this, Crystal! “When God gives us a new identity, He calls us to embrace it, believe it and own it.” Praise God that we can fully embrace and own our identity in Him, and can walk with confidence into the new seasons and callings He has given us! May God continue to bless your work, family and powerful ministry! 🙂

    1. Amen Christin!! And I think the more we proclaim this truth, the more freedom God and peace its impact can create. Thank you for your sweet encouragment!

  6. Isn’t it funny (or sad, sometimes) how we never grow out of that insecurity that says, “I’m not worthy” when God has declared we are from the start, Crystal? I have struggled off and on throughout my life in many of the ways you’ve described, but that’s always when I compare myself to others or some idealistic standard. God then steps in to remind me that I don’t need some arbitrary or irrelevant “yardstick” when I have His worthiness! That’s all I could ever need or want! Thanks for sharing so vulnerably here, my friend! And I also thank Lori for highlighting you and your story!

    1. I’m nodding my head, Beth, as I read your post! Amen! I’m so thankful to Crystal for sharing her story!

  7. Thank you for sharing – I too struggle with those feelings of doubt, of being unqualified – an imposter. Perfect!

    1. It seems we all have so many struggles in common Julia, and I think this is a portion of the comfort we can access in the midst of the journey toward truth.

    2. Julia, Thank you so much for visiting. I stopped to say a prayer right now for your weapons against doubt to rise powerfully and for you to always walk in the freedom of a woman #ChosenandWorthy! ♥

  8. Crystal- thanks for these reminders about our worth. Those little labels are affixed a little too tightly sometimes.
    Lori- thank you for this series!

    1. Julie,
      I’m so glad you are enjoying this series! I pray it ministers to the hearts of many!

  9. I love this and it really speaks to me having gone through such a transition recently from mostly ‘mom’ for 19 years to almost empty nest than facing myself — reclaiming the professional me felt impossible..I felt like an imposter! Yes! After having much success in a career throughout my life didn’t matter..I forgot ‘her’! But truth is God is showing me I am a mom, and I’m a professional with gifts He’s given me that I need to honor and bless. I love this honest post about such an important topic not talked about enough!! Thanks for visiting my blog this week and leaving such a thoughtful comment! Hope to share more!

  10. Thank you so much for sharing this at the #warriorlinkup ! What a fabulous testimony and exhortation at the same time <3