Beyond Fear: Embracing Your God Given Success

Camille McDaniel (00:02.412)
Welcome back to Christ in Private Practice. It’s so wonderful to see so many new people have subscribed to all the different channels. So if you happen to be listening or watching, welcome. It’s great to have you on this journey. And if you happen to have been on this journey for quite some time, then as always, it’s wonderful to have you back for another episode. So we are going to talk today about overcoming

fear and embracing success. And we are going to talk about it as it relates to the fact that actually for some of us, both of those are fears, fear of failure and fear of success, even though really you don’t hear a lot of people talking about fearing success, but it is a thing. So we’re going to dive into that for this session. Okay.

You know, when you talk about like fear of failure, honestly, it’s something probably that a lot of us have felt. You know, it’s the heaviness in your chest when you have to consider maybe doing something new or creating a new offer or creating a new service or having to navigate networking with new people in order to continue to build your reputation.

or build your private practice or get into doors so that you can securely operate in your gift and your talents. So there is just a lot of things, whether I said like heaviness in your chest or if it happens to be knots in your stomach, there’s just a lot of things that can cause that. Even if you’ve already, you’re in practice and not necessarily looking at trying to get additional clients or network, then

You know, even conversations around raising your fees, which sometimes happens around the beginning of the year, or maybe not being able to accept a certain insurance plan anymore. I mean, there’s just a lot that can kick up just fear, you know, because the fear is whispering doubts. It’s telling you that, you know, you’re making the wrong decisions. It’s telling you that you’re not good enough. You’re going to mess up or, you know, you’re going to disappoint people.

Camille McDaniel (02:28.29)
And so it just kind of plays a number on your mind and your emotions. And the fear I would say is pretty strong, especially for therapists because of the responsibility that we carry, the responsibility that we carry for the wellbeing of our clients, the responsibility that we carry for keeping maybe a business open that is employing other people.

So, you know, it’s not just our clients and their lives, but maybe it’s the lives of those you employ. There’s just a lot sometimes that you might find yourself experiencing or finding other therapists experiencing. For some of us, it’s about perfection and believing that if we mess up or make a misstep that, you know, we are going to all of a sudden falter as far as reputation or that if we mess up

we maybe haven’t been as faithful, you know, because if we had more faith, then maybe we wouldn’t mess up. You know, it’s just, just really a lot of, a lot of things just start swimming through your head and whether they are totally false or whether there’s some truth to them, we want to take a look at, you know, we want to take a look at how to deal with it, you know, and remembering that we don’t have to be afraid of messing up our identity.

Who we are is rooted in Christ, not our performance. Remember, the Bible says, matter of fact, you’re not gonna be able to just like win salvation through your works. You’re not gonna be good enough and high enough to say, I’ve earned this honor. No, it is through Christ so that you can’t boast.

and, and the thing about that is also is that we need to not even outside of, of boasting to get the credit. We need to recognize that whether we are sitting high or whether we are sitting in the middle or whether we are sitting low, cause we’re going through some challenges in our business. you know, and, and profession. Our value does not diminish just because.

Camille McDaniel (04:52.714)
we have not met our goal. Our value was set with our savior. First and foremost, end of discussion. Our value is set. Okay? Now, what is separate and apart from that is our performance. And that’s going to fluctuate through life. You know, sometimes we are going to be rocking it. We are going to be doing so great. And sometimes we are going to stumble and we are going to hit some pretty

rough patches but ideally we will be able to move through it and we’re going to talk about like you know how we can move through it. But first I want to talk about like just how how fear sometimes creeps up and causes you to diminish your effectiveness in the world and we’re going to use a scripture. Okay so have you heard in the Bible the parable of talents?

And it’s in the book of Matthew chapter 25, verse 14 through 30. It’s called the parable of talents. And essentially it is recounting how an owner of a house, so it’s a parable, right? But here’s how it goes for those who may not be familiar. Okay, so the owner of a house is going to travel. He’s going on a journey and he has

servants that he wants to leave his wealth with while he is away on this journey to protect and take care of. Okay and so he has three servants and he calls his servants and he gives them a certain amount of gold, bags of gold according to each person’s ability. So he gives the first servant like

five bags of gold, he gives the second servant two bags of gold, he gives the third servant one bag of gold. All right? So he, the master of the house goes on his journey and each servant then gets moving with, with what to do with their, their master’s gold that they have just been given. And so the first person who had five bags, he went and he turned those five bags, he got to work.

Camille McDaniel (07:13.278)
whatever he got to doing, he turned it into a total of 10. So he doubled it and the second person who had two bags of gold, he also went out and and got to work and he got two more bags. So he also doubled it but then the the third servant he was not like the others right and so where he received his bag of gold

received one bag of gold, he went, he dug a hole in the ground and he hid the money in the ground. Okay so when the master comes back, he comes back from his journey right and and the first servant is just like master you gave me five bags of gold, I I have five more now right you know and the master is like well done good and faithful servant.

And he says, you you have been faithful with few, I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness. And then the man who had two bags to start off with, he said, master, you entrusted me with two bags and I have obtained two more. And the master again said, you know, well done, you know, my good and faithful servant. And so,

again you have been faithful over a few things, I will put you in charge over many things, come and share you know your master’s happiness.” And then the man who had received one bag, he actually said, well you know I knew that you were a hard man you know harvesting where you had not sown and and gathering where you had not scattered seeds so I was afraid and I went and I hid you know the the money

that you gave me in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.” And the master of the house said, you wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I harvested where I had not sown and gathered where I had not scattered seed. You knew that? Well, then you should have put the money at least in the bank so that I could have gotten interest. So he took the bag from the third servant and he gave it.

Camille McDaniel (09:35.778)
to the servant who had tin bags. And it says for whoever will be given or whoever has will be given more. And those who do not have even that will be taken from them. And so he, you know, the servant who did not do well with the gifts and talents was then cast aside, you know, into darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So you read it, read it yourself, know, the book of Matthew, excuse me, chapter 25, verse 14 through 30. And what is this talking about? Well, I’m going to focus as it relates to fear, right? So the first two servants, they got their talents, their gold, essentially. And with the gold that they had been given, they went out.

and they worked it out however they did to magnify that. And that’s essentially where the Lord gives us gifts and talents. The Lord has different gifts and different talents for each of us. And some of us have received those talents, those gifts, and we have magnified them. We have been able to turn them into

wonderful things, maybe not things that get you on television, maybe nothing where everybody finds out about it but still impactful and powerful. Some of us have been given those gifts and talents because let me be clear, everybody has been given gifts and talents by the Lord, right? Some of us are using them mightily and some of them some of us are hiding.

We’re not being a light. We’re not shining. We’re not using our gifts and talents. We are afraid. And if you notice, even in this parable, the third person who thought their master was so harsh and shrewd and they became afraid didn’t probably really even understand their master. Because if you had gone out,

Camille McDaniel (11:56.502)
with the gifts and talents you’ve been given and if maybe you made a mistake but you kept trying and maybe recouped it, wouldn’t the Father still be happy, still be pleased that you even are using the gifts and the talents that he gave you? So those gifts that you have been given, are you allowing fear to cause you to hide, to sink back?

to not shine, to not go forth, to not double the impact, triple the impact that you have in this world. And if you find yourself a bit afraid, why? Are you afraid that maybe a light will kind of be shined on you and others won’t receive you well? Are you afraid that maybe you’ll get pushback, that you will…

be canceled, if you will, by some people? Are you afraid that you might lose friendships or connections out of envy? Or are you maybe even afraid that you might stumble along the way? And here you go, going out and trying to do all that you can do, and everybody is kind of looking, and you’re afraid that maybe it won’t go well.

It’s possibility, right? We’re going to talk about ways that we can reframe how we look at failing, how we look at messing up so that we do not take the gifts that we have been given and just hide away. Just tuck them in the back. Just not shine because we don’t want to be too much. We don’t want to do too much or we don’t want to mess up along the way.

and not meet the goal. Because believe me, if you do anything, sometimes you’re not going to meet the goal. Don’t let that stop you. It’s not like it took away your gifts and talents just because you didn’t meet the goal. It just might mean that it wasn’t the right time or maybe you didn’t do it the right way or maybe it wasn’t for you. It can mean a number of things, but you still have those gifts and talents and the world still needs them. You have to find what way should I be using them?

Camille McDaniel (14:20.802)
and that’s where you want to talk to the father. What is he telling you to do? What is he telling you to create? What is he telling you to speak up and share? There is a lot of pain in the world and you have a lot of knowledge mental health professional. How are you supposed to shine your light? Well, we’ll get to that, but let’s go ahead and take a look at the other fear.

And that’s the fear of success. And sometimes this shows up in ways of like, we are afraid of like imposter syndrome. You know, we are afraid that we might self-sabotage. We are maybe resistant to growing because that increase means an increase of

responsibility, it might mean that more people are going to notice us and be looking and it’s going to bring attention our way. I know that definitely is a thing that I’m not always comfortable with and I know that that can be hard to believe because you all may you know hear from me on the podcast and if you’re on the newsletter list

my email list and you’re hearing from me there and if you’re in the group and Facebook, know, you’re, you know, you are, but the Lord knows I want to be able to do great things. I want to have great impact. I want to use my gifts and my talents to the best of the ability of my ability until my last day on this physical earth, right? You know, but I do not like the spotlight.

I love to do great things. I don’t always like the spotlight because for me it’s like, ugh, everyone is looking. Everyone is watching closely. What happens if maybe I mess up? What happens if there’s a misstep? If things don’t go as smoothly as people anticipate? But I have to keep pushing forward. And we’ll kind of talk about some of those things. Like I said, we’ll look at, what do we do? Because I definitely…

Camille McDaniel (16:37.812)
I have a lot of reframed that I definitely use to just allow me to be okay in my humanness and allow me to just continue to say, Lord, tell me what I need to do in order to have the impact you want me to have in order for me to touch the people that you want me to touch. you know, and I will, I will move forward in the way that you instruct me. I’ll do it. I’ll do it confidently or I’ll do it afraid, but I will, but I will do it.

And so sometimes we worry, you we’re overthinking, can we sustain this level of success? So not only the visibility that comes with it, but will we be able to sustain it or will we lose it? And sometimes that even stems from experiences that we’ve had in our life, in our growing years. Could it be that I amass this level of success because I’m walking in my gifts and in my talents and it just so happens that this is

bringing about great impact and that is also bringing great visibility and it might even be bringing great resources as well. And what if I can’t sustain it? What if I lose it? You know, and that fear causes us sometimes to not move forward. So if any of this, you know, sounds like, you know, it resonates with you, just know that you’re not alone. You’re not alone. Don’t hesitate.

It’s okay. Don’t get nervous. If for example, your referrals all of a sudden explode and you’re not sure what will happen if everything, you know, dries up, will I be able to be the therapist I need to be? Don’t allow the worry and the fear of doing well become so much pressure for you that you do not operate in your gifts confidently. Okay. For us,

as Christian therapists, what we do is not just a job. that is so funny because I was in an online group and I remember there was a post where there was some commentary and one of the things that I had shared about, you know, kind of moving on from a job is that like our job is not just the type of job that you just quit easily. There are people attached to it, there are stories and

Camille McDaniel (19:04.628)
know there there was something I was sharing I guess in my comment about the fact that it’s not just a job. This is more than a job. It is, it really is and what we do has great reach, great impact. Now I have had just jobs. I remember many many many years ago when I was probably a I was probably a teenager and and then somewhere into like my college years or whatever I used to work at like

a lot of retail stores, different ones, ones that actually aren’t even open anymore. Like the Limited, Express, Bath and Body Works is still open. I used to work there too. I used to work at all kinds of retail stores. But either way, I remember when I worked at The Gap, another retail store, when I worked at The Gap, one of the managers there was like, you know what, people, we’re not about to get stressed over this. It’s just jeans and shirts.

It’s just jeans and shirts, right? You know, we’re not about to get stressed out over jeans and shirts. That’s a job. That’s a job, right? But what we have is a calling. And you know, God has uniquely placed you and I in this profession for a purpose. And we want to make sure that we look at the gifts and talents that he has given us.

as something that we need to protect and grow. This is not just about what we can do all by ourselves. He gave us everything we need. You don’t have to doubt yourself. He already gave you what you need. You are uniquely wired already for what you need to do during your time on this earth. You don’t have to worry if you’re going to be able to be enough. You already are enough. He gave you everything you need. So

You want to just be able to step in that, accept it. This this frees us up from needing to prove ourselves. we don’t have to worry about that. We don’t have to also shrink back thinking that maybe we don’t have what it takes. He’s already prepared you with what you need. Now what you have to do is be able to step forward and let it be a light that shines brightly.

Camille McDaniel (21:30.07)
Okay, and so knowing the examples that we already have, knowing what the Bible shared about those who either magnified their talents or those who hid their talents and how the Father, the Lord feels about that. Let’s take a look at how we can kind of reframe some of the fear, right? Like reframe the fear, embrace growth.

and success, right? So one of the first things we want to look at is reframing the idea of failure. And we want to reframe failure to looking at it as just feedback and learning, okay? We’re going to even shift that the way that we talk about it. So we’re not going to be like, you know, instead of saying, I really messed that up, or I really, you know, I really failed on that one, you’re you’re going to even speak differently. So you can say, you know,

I learned something today. I learned something pretty valuable, matter of fact. Because every time we have a setback, it leaves room for improvement. And also remember that all setbacks are not just sometimes room for improvement, but sometimes they’re protection. Sometimes something didn’t need to move. You didn’t need to go in that direction.

but you were so bent on it, you know, that you move that way anyway and out of divine protection, it was shut down. So we have to sometimes prey on wisdom about certain things that don’t go the way that we want it to. Sometimes it’s room for improvement. Sometimes it’s divine protection. Whichever way, just know it will, the Father will give you what you need as far as a message.

about whether or not you need to get up and try differently with new and improved strategies or whether you need to leave it alone and walk away and go in a different direction. So again, reframing that failure is sometimes setback and sometimes divine protection. So we’re gonna look at it as feedback or we’re gonna look at it as protecting us from something that we didn’t need to be doing. All right, the next thing is let’s embrace imperfection.

Camille McDaniel (23:52.426)
and vulnerability as just like human. It’s just humanist. Okay, we’re not we’re not going for perfectionism. Perfectionism is giving people heart palpitations and cardiac issues. It’s giving us gastrointestinal, I was thinking two words at the same time I was going to say gastrointelligent. my goodness. Anyway, it’s giving us gastrointestinal issues. It’s giving us sleepless nights and lost appetite.

and headaches and crankiness. It’s sending our blood pressure up. Okay? We don’t want that. We’re not going for perfection. Right? We are just going for progress. That’s it. We’re going for progress. Okay? So that’s another thing. We’re not striving for perfection. We are striving for progress. We are human.

And matter of fact, we actually in our humanness, we are a great model for others, our clients, one, they benefit from us being just our regular selves, imperfections and all. Okay, so the next thing that we are gonna look at is celebrating.

wins and progress at every stage. Because fear often focuses on just like the big picture, like, my goodness, what if I don’t reach this goal? What if I don’t get this thing and totally ignores all the smaller steps that you even take to get your mind.

right to like branch out and expand to put yourself out there into the world to be visible to speak boldly and and and forward about messages that are on your heart given by the Lord like all of those things are things to celebrate.

Camille McDaniel (25:56.968)
Celebrate them. If you had, I don’t know, let’s say you were a part of a team that was doing some research and it got published, celebrate that. If you, like I was celebrating big time that the summit was approved for CE credit by NBCC and by the Canadian Counseling Association, it’s CCPA. And so I’m not gonna say the whole thing correctly. So I’ll just keep it at CCPA.

I was big time like so excited because it was a process that I didn’t think it would be like, you know, kind of as rigorous, but I was like, my goodness, I did it. Like just sit in that. What is it that you have not been sitting in? What is it that you’re not acknowledging because in your mind is not a big enough step. Celebrate all of the wins, small.

medium and large. Okay and the next one is ultimately we are going to like trust that the Lord is going to lead us and guide us. The the Bible says in in the book of Propler

book of Proverbs, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Do you know what’s so awesome about that scripture? Do you know that means you don’t have to have it all together? You do not have to have the whole blueprint constructed and ready to go. All you have to do is one thing. You don’t have to be the constructor and the author and the finisher and all of you don’t have to do all of that.

Do you know what you have to do? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not into your own understanding. That’s all you have to work on. And then the next part, because that’s also very key, in all your ways, acknowledge Him. Don’t trust yourself, trust the Lord, lean on Him.

Camille McDaniel (28:12.414)
not your own understanding, acknowledge him in all that you do, seek him in all that you do, read your word for knowledge, talk to him in prayer. And guess what? He will direct your path. Isn’t that nice? Isn’t that, isn’t that a load off to not have to be in control all the time? I think so.

and seek community. You need a body of believers. Like start with even just one person if you really don’t know where to find this like group. But seek a body of believers. You know, gather together.

we’re talking about mental health. So get a consultation group together where you all can pray, where you can be accountable to each other for staying in your word so that you are able to understand where the Father is leading you, help his children, both those who come to you that are believers and not believers. There’s ways of doing that professionally and ethically that do not then cross your faith in the Lord that you serve. Get that group.

I have one or two, a couple of buddies that I’m like, we have got to meet up, we have got to meet up and stay in touch. And they agree. Because it’s like, sometimes you need to be able to consult on some of the cases that you happen to be seeing and people that you happen to be helping and supporting. Sometimes you need prayer.

You need a prayer for yourself, just in general, as a mental health professional. Sometimes you need prayer and an intercession, you know, like for something that’s going on and it’s been challenging within the counseling room. And you need camaraderie. You just need the people. Sometimes you might get together to brainstorm things for your business.

Camille McDaniel (30:21.29)
Sometimes you might get together because you all are going to do like a working session together. Find your group and here’s the thing if you have not found your group and you are listening to me or you’re watching me and you’re like Camille I I would love to. Where are where are the people? Come into our group on Facebook. At least come into the group so that you can say hey I am looking for others who can connect.

I’m in this state or I’m in this time zone because even the the some of the people that we’re going to get together and start connecting, we’re not all in the same state but we are in the same time zone. It doesn’t really honestly matter if everybody’s times work. So even if you’re not in the same time zone, if you all can find time within the day that works for each person for whatever time it is where they are, then yeah let’s do that. Okay so let’s break free from the fear.

That is not what the Lord is calling us to do. He’s not calling for us to just bury our talents in the sand. He is calling for us to use those, guard those talents and use them to be impactful and magnify them in the world. Again.

let’s go ahead and make sure that we are getting community together. And like I said, if you want community, come on to the Facebook group. And if you want to learn more about how to be ethical, how to be impactful, then I encourage you to join us at the summit because we’re going to be meeting in September. It is going to be recorded so that if you can’t show up live, you can definitely catch the recording. again, if you want

CEs though you do have to show up for the live presentations but if you just want the information and you’re like I don’t even care whether I get the CEs or not, I just want the information, I want the support and there is a general admission ticket price that is different from the CE admission price and you can definitely get all of this information and a ton of resources. So I

Camille McDaniel (32:35.01)
Definitely had a great time talking about this topic today. I look forward to it. I pray that the Lord bless you. I pray that the Lord keep you. I pray that he empowers you. I pray that he gives you the confidence to go boldly. Do not be afraid. That is all right. He has you in his hands. Until next time, God bless.