#105: Skill Set: Embracing your whole self with Sarah E. Westfall

Have you ever felt like you are both too much and not enough at the same time? That maybe you got the raw end of the personality deal? Do you feel afraid to be who you most fully are?

Sweet friend, if you can only see the downsides of your personality, take heart. If you wish that you could be more like somebody else, there’s hope.

Here to offer us hope is today’s guest Sarah E. Westfall.

This episode is the fourth installment in our Skill Set series, one in which we’ll take God’s wisdom and overlay it onto our real-life struggles so we can know what practical tools are at our disposal to help us overcome our struggles with God’s truth and grace.

Key Quotes

“Accepting who we are is learning to live into that nuance.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“Who is God whispering me into becoming?” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“I don’t have to perform my way into the heart of God.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“We spend so much time and energy trying to not be the bad versions of ourselves that we don’t lean into the virtue and strengths that we bring to the table.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“Give yourself space to be who you are in light of who God made you to be.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“I need relationships to continue to reflect the better version of myself.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“The temptation when we decide, ‘I want to be more authentic’ is to confuse authenticity with transparency.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“We can be who we are without sharing all of who we are.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“Sometimes what is good for the room is for someone to take a risk and be a little bit vulnerable to free other people to do the same.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“We are always becoming.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“Relationships both with our self and other people requires a measure of perseverance.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“When we give ourselves time to be authentic and transparent gradually, we build a really, really good foundation with people.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“Accepting who we fully are is never going to be disconnected from who we are as a whole.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall
“The more we are reflective and the more we pay attention, the more apt we are to see God’s answers in the midst of our daily life.” – Writer Sarah E. Westfall

Mentioned in the Podcast

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Resources to help you learn more about how God wired you

About Sarah E. Westfall

A fan of good words and great conversation, Sarah E. Westfall is a writer, speaker, and director of community for hope*writers.

Her work explores faith and belonging and has been featured in publications such as RELEVANT, Fathom Mag, (in)courage, and The Joyful Life magazine.

At the end of the day, Sarah’s favorite place is with her people. She lives for slow Saturday mornings at home, sipping pour-over coffee with her husband Ben as their four sons play (very loudly). Sarah and her rowdy crew call Fort Wayne, Indiana home.