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There are so many elements wrapped up in our own confidence. Our personal identities consist not only of the things we love about ourselves, but also of our insecurities and how we feel about our place in the world, in our relationships, in our careers and home lives. Confidence in our own identity shifts how we show up for ourselves and our dreams, and gaining more confidence is a practice we could all use a little more of. But how? My guest Amanda Pittman can help.
Amanda Pittman is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, and the Founder of Confident Woman Co., a ministry that equips women to stand confidently upon the finished work of Jesus. I’m so thrilled to have Amanda here for a chat about identity, insecurity, being women of ambition, and standing in our confidence.
What Is Your Identity?
Amanda Pittman and I dove right into the thick of it (because you know I don’t like small talk!) and first tackled the topic of identity. How do you know what your identity is? Where is it found? Why is it powerful to understand your identity?
Amanada shared something that I think is super relatable: A lot of us find our identity in what we do. Our job, our hobbies, our contributions to the world. There are so many ways to measure our identity based on “doing” that it’s easy to feel like you don’t measure up at all. Amanda shared about a time in her life where she pursued so many different identities for herself based on doing and the outside world that it left her feeling unfulfilled.
She is proud of her faith, and Amanda says that her identity comes from the confidence she places in Christ, something that can never be taken away from her. She explained, “For those of us who are believers in Christ, one of the things that we believe in is that our identity is already established. It’s not something that you have to discover. It’s not something that you have to uncover or reveal; it’s already there… And if you wanna have true confidence, confidence that lasts, then you’re gonna need to place your identity in something that can’t be taken away from you.”
Finding Identity Outside of Motherhood
Amanda got married at 20-years old and had her first child soon after. She reflected on that time in her life when she felt like her identity was solely a wife and a mother, the “milk machine” for her child, as she said it. It was a challenging season because Amanda felt a calling beyond her identities as a wife and mother but was unsure what to do with that calling inside her.
Someone close to Amanda encouraged her to ask God how he saw her and what His identity was for Amanda. She prayed on it and heard so clearly that God called her to preach, pray, and to prophesy. After that moment, she knew she had a purpose independent of being a wife and mother.
“That’s when I started preaching more boldly online and I started to feel alive again. I started to feel myself again,” Amanda continued, “Then by the time [my husband and I] stepped out into entrepreneurship and I launched a coaching program, I was like, wow, I feel like I have purpose.”
Ambition Isn’t Bad
Many women whisper about their ambitions as if it’s wrong to desire more while also feeling contentment in their lives. For Amanda, ambition is healthy, but a certain ambition is not. She explains:
“I’m just gonna make it real plain. I don’t think ambition is bad. I think ambition can be very healthy. I read the Bible and that’s what I filter everything through. There’s a scripture that says ‘do nothing out of selfish ambition and vain conceit.’ And so when I think about the type of ambition that’s unhealthy is the type of ambition that’s completely self-centered. And when I think about vain conceit, I think about somebody who’s obsessed with themselves.”
“So when you’re ambitious because you’re impact driven, you’re thinking how many lives can I change? How many people can I reach? That is healthy ambition, especially if you are one of those go-getter, achiever type people – harness that energy in a good place.”
More from Amanda Pittman
Connect with Amanda Pittman on Instagram and TikTok @amandaapittman and online at amandaapittman.com. If you’re interested in learning more about her ministry, can you find that at confidentwomenco.com. Amanda Pittman’s new book Stand in Confidence: From Sinking in Insecurity to Rising in Your God-Given Identity is out September 6, 2022.
