Article October 18, 2010 Issue

FEAR OF FAILURE? NO WAY!

BY JODIE SWALES

CREATIVE... INSPIRING... COLORFUL... and... continually afraid of failure...

Well, that's a commonly held belief about artists, anyway, I had never consciously identified myself as an artist until a few years ago, but that's what I did for a living, performing educational drama shows for children. And several years ago I had the opportunity to extensively tour a show that I had written for our state's arts council. It was a dream come true! Only I hadn't factored in the continual haunting fear that somehow "my" show would fail.

The show had been conditionally accepted to tour for a year and a half, at around 300 primary schools in the state, but my husband and I had to undergo one final audition before we set off on tour. When I became afraid that we would fail, I turned to prayer for guidance. Immediately, a verse from the Bible came to thought: "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Cor. 9:8). I loved that the verse said, "Ye, always having all sufficiency in all things." That was exactly what I needed to know as I was dealing with fears of being inadequate or inexperienced. With my whole heart, I turned to God and asked God to show me what I needed to know.

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